29.9.10

Oh, the shame!

I have a terrible confession to make. You’ll think me an awful, neglectful Mother… dare I tell you?! Yes. Yes I should. Honesty is the best policy & all that… here goes;

Before today, I had never made Miss Punk play-dough.

I know!

She has played with ‘playdoh’ & even the handmade stuff at playgroup – but I had just not gotten around to making her some myself.

plaindough

The massive bag of play-dough cutters I picked up from Le Oppy on Monday for $2 (…me thinks they might be Tupperware? Experts? I have had the good-fortune of not having to attend a Tupperware party in my entire adult life…) though spurred me on to finally get to it. I promised Punk I’d make some, in exchange for her not opening the bag of cutters & distributing them to mysterious places around the house before then.

coloureddough

It wasn’t hard. I made it before I cleaned the kitchen so that I didn’t have to clean up afterwards muttering about the mess being a good Mother makes. It was even…. fun…. & The Punk loved watching the process, choosing the colours & playing, contentedly, for longer than she has played with anything, ever, with the end result.

shapes

So, if like me, you have a deep, dark, brooding play-dough secret, I urge you to go make some & get it over with.

You’ll be glad. I promise.

yellowbus

I can vouch for this, from the book 365 TV-free Activities for Toddlers;

  • 1 cup plain flour
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup cooking oil
  • 1 tablespoon cream of tartar
  • 1 tablespoon cooking oil
  • Food colouring
  • Wooden spoon
  • Saucepan
  • Breadboard
  • Plastic containers

With a wooden spoon, mix the flour, water, salt and cream of tartar in a saucepan over a medium heat until thick. When it has cooled, add the oil and knead well on a floured board.

Divide into balls and add different colours….

cutters2

14 comments:

  1. Gorgeous, vibrant colours! I've never made it either..and my eldest is almost 9!!

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  2. You are too funny!
    If you keep going at this pace you might get your good parent license soon.
    I LOVE the idea of making it BEFORE you clean the kitchen though. And I am going to try out your recipe, the last time I made it is was a sticky gooey mess for some reason.

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  3. My confession is of the worst play dough kind... A few weeks ago I FINALLY attempted to make my own playdough (after being disgusted by all the extra plastic you buy when you buy store bought stuff) Anyhoo... getting to the point; it took me and Izzy THREE trys to get the very simple recipe of flour, salt, water and colouring right.

    I felt like such a failure of a Mumma... and then I got over it and bought another kilo for $9.00!

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  4. I have never made it for my kids either *shame!*

    The cutters are from a big box - I have half in the box, and half in my 2nd draw...I think there is 100 in the set - though they aren't Tupperware sorry :) But they are very kid proof!

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  5. ahh, the joys of playdough!
    we make it & everytime I do, I ask myself "why??"
    it ends up everywhere, in cracks in the floorboards, in their toy tubs, in dolls mouths & of course a combined mess of brown.
    but, they love it & it allows them to create & be themselves. gotta love that.
    cutters look like the pack we bought from aldi. there was 100 for about $10.
    happy playdoughing! and funny Kate about the license..heheee

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  6. You are way to hard on yourself. I have two girls and neither of them have been treated to the homemade kind. Your shapes look ace!

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  7. Not too sure who had the most fun between the two of you....lol.. Happy crafting, Jenny

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  8. Punk is only little, don't worry you're going to make loooots more playdough. It's just the best homemade playdough, I bet you had lots of fun with it too;) I know I always do! xo

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  9. No shame. We were given so much playdough when the kids were little we never needed to make any. When we did we discovered that not only is home made softer, it lasts heaps and heaps longer. Works best if stored in press seal bags with air squashed out. Or tightly squashed into small containers so there's not much space for air. Takes longer for it to dry out :-)

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  10. Confession here - I have never made if for Baden to play with - really need to do something about that now he is out of eating everything. Think that the cutters are just stock standard cutters - and lucky for you to not have been sucked into a tupper party.

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  11. I give you a guarantee - you will be asked to make a fresh batch (because it feels so nice while it's still warm!) with fresh colours every week.
    My girls love the stuff, so I nearly always have a batch in the fridge.
    By the way, how's your stirring arm? :)

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  12. play dough is the best!! for our first day at kindy we make the kids a little bag of 'magic play dough' each to help them settle in. make little balls of the uncoloured playdough and poke a hole in it with your finger. add a couple of drops of food colouring and then close the ball over. i'm sure punky would love the surprise of squishing the playdough up to make the colour appear!

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  13. You know, I've never made play dough either. Or attended a Tupperware party. I'm hoping that won't change. But you know, you've inspired me to gibe play dough a go!

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  14. 'give' even... perhaps not 'gibe' !!!

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Let's have a chat. And a biscuit. And some tea. And another biscuit.

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