to not see the point in making your own playdough?

[emkana]

I'm surrounded by mothers who make their own playdough.

Surely homemade playdough is sticky, leaves your hands covered in a dusty gooey mess, and is v v difficult to roll out?

So what is the point?

I love making my own playdough. It is lovely to knead whilst it is still warm. I also find it a lot softer and easier to handle for the lo's than shop bought playdough.

I've added vanilla essence before to make it smell nice, but hadn't thought of adding glitter. I shall try that next week.

I weave lentils to make my own playdhal.

Very funny thread. Policywonk, I used to think you were a fearless pithy poster with a sinuous intelligence. I didn't know that you had used cream of tartare sauce to make playdough.

Doh!

Dd1 has a tutor who makes fantastic play-doh, really great - not sticky or gooey and in fab colours. But these days it is very cheap to buy in the Entertainer.

Shop-bought playdough dries out too quickly and I don't like the texture. My homemade stuff has been going for months and you can make huge quantities rather than one piffling little plastic pot. And, since you just make one BIG lot of one colour, you don't end up with a blob of that foul khaki grey brown that mixed pots of different coloured shop playdough go.

I have an even easier recipe than the one posted before, no cooking required, and it works really really well.....

1 Minute Playdough

1/2 cup salt
1 cup flour
1 Tbs Cream of Tartar
1 Tbs oil
1 cup boiling water
Few drops food colour
(or if you're feeling REALLY lentil-weavery, apparently the contents of 3 blackcurrant dazzler fruit tea bags make a lovely purple colour)

Put it all in a bowl and mix it up, water added last.

Could it be any simpler?

I have to stick to shop bought play-doh as the very few times I have used the home made stuff at playgroups, the skin has been lifted from both hands (more so the right one as i'm right handed) and I have no idea what could be the ingredient that causes this.

Any ideas?

I cheat and make my own playdough using the microwave and food processor! add a few drops of essential oil and it smells soooo yummy!

always turns out fab but for some reason blue is normally a bit stickier

Message withdrawn

How much is 3 cups in ounces please?
Or if you were using a cup, would it be a tea cup or a mug?
Love the idea of adding perfume and glitter!

How much is 3 cups in ounces please?
Or if you were using a cup, would it be a tea cup or a mug?
Love the idea of adding perfume and glitter!

Also you can bake salt dough then paint and make permanent items with it.

Shop bought modelling clay is really expensive in comparison and I would resent using that for my 3rd and 5yr olds creations.

My home made stuff is great. I put lots of different stuff in it, glitter/sand/lentils etc.

Is way cheper than bought stuff.

Message withdrawn

Haven't read this thread yet I confess, but I can't see anything more pointless than making your own playdough. You can get cheap playdough in pound shops. 3 pots for £2. WHY get your hands, floor, table, counter dirty????????????????

Janey mackers, some of you really make it yourselves!? Wow.

Um we have some ELC stuff and it has been going for over a year, hasn't dried out, still mostly in separate colours. We do have the obligatory ball of khaki, of course.

can't see the problem with shop bought unless you really want to save money.

life is most definitely too short to iron pants or make your own play dough.

(does anyone else still call it plasticine? My mum does, with a posh plar-sticine pronounciation)

if you read the thread many ( like me ) have to make it because of allergies etc.....

YABU.

I made some for dh ages ago and it has kept in the fridge and stayed soft. I took about 5 mins and I admit made me feel worthy. Seeing as I spend most of my life feeling guilty I enjoyed this.

Have avoided adding vanilla extract as ds needs no encouragement to put stuff in his mouth!! I'm still finding sand in his nappy from a visit to the park a couple of days ago.

If you don't want to make it then don't. Don't judge us playdoh makers.

Loving the glitter idea, thanks for that.

sorry, obviously allergies are a different kettle of fish.

wasabi, did your dh enjoy playing with it ?

I make it because i need huge quantities at a time - think a couple of ice cream tubs - for a hordes of kids to play with. Do it in the microwave, it's easy peasy and better than the real thing (apart from the smell - you don't get the distinctive proper Playdough smell with homemade)

My playdough's bloody fantastic.

Lasts ages. Smells nice (I add smelly oils to it) and has a better texture than the commercial stuff. And it's not messy - you mix the whole thing in the saucepan.

It takes - literally - 10 minutes and costs bugger all.

I enjoy feeling worthy.

Lol, yeah dh loved it!! Ds thought it was quite cool too.

Well, If I made play dough I'd be so exhausted there'd be no dinner. I'd be all cooked out.