Recipe for Cooked Play Dough

This home-made play dough is just fantastic.  It's very easy to make, safe and non-toxic (it's edible but I wouldn't risk tasting it) so soft and fun to use, it lasts quite a long time (as long you keep it in a sealed container), it's so much cheaper than the commercial brand and most of all, the fun starts in the actual making of the dough.  I got the recipe from the book "Wonderplay" from the 92nd St. Y Parenting Center that I bought years ago from Books for Less.  I'm sharing this with you so you could share this with your kids.   There's another recipe for play dough in the book which is an uncooked version recommended for older kids.  I'll try that when Trix gets older.  Remember, a fun activity + an active child = a happy mom :)

Cooked Play Dough














Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup water


Procedure:

Combine the dry ingredients and put in a sauce pan.
Mix together the wet ingredients then add to the dry ingredients.
Cook over medium flame while stirring vigorously until the entire thing comes together like a sticky ball.  Turn off heat.
Knead the dough until smooth- you may opt to use your hands but the dough will be hot!  So I just used a spatula to knead the dough while still in the pan.
Transfer to a plate then cover with plastic.  Let cool.  (You can put the dough in the freezer to speed up the cooling, but don't forget about it!)
As soon as the dough is cool enough to handle, divide it into portions and start coloring them with food color. 
Have fun with the dough and place in a sealed container after using to keep the dough soft and nice.

Tip:  You may add drops of water to the dough and knead it if it becomes a little hard when exposed to the air for a time.