DIY Play dough

How's your child's summer break so far? My son's classes have ended three weeks ago so he's at home the entire day. IT IS a challenge to keep him busy, but i manage to squeeze in a few ways to he keep his hands off the Ipad even just for a few hours.

His most requested activities so far include making volcanoes (you know the reaction when you mix baking soda with vinegar?) and play dough. These keep him busy for a while and i like it because he's able to practice his fine motor skills on a sit down activity.

Let me share how we make our own play dough.  I found several different versions online, but the recipe below seems to be the simplest and i readily had three main ingredients in our pantry.

What you'll need

• 1 cup cornstarch (we used Queen brand)
• 2 cups baking soda (we had Arm and Hammer that time) 
• 1.5 cups water
• Liquid food color (we used Ferna) 

Steps:

1. Mix the first three ingredients well, then put on your stove over low fire. 
2. Keep mixing until it becomes gewy and sticky. 
3. Divide the mixture into several containers, depending on how many colors you want to make. 
4. While still hot, drop a few drops of liquid food color into each container. Using a spoon or spatula, mix well, to ensure that you spread to food color evenly. 
5. Wait until it completely cools before you enjoy kneading by hand.  

I was able to make 4 fist-sized mounds with the recipe.
You can store these in the fridge in air tight containers to repeat the fun over and over...

PS I really thank Pinterest for the vast and wonderful resource of ideas for fun activities for children of any age! Check out my Pinterest boards here for more inspiration.

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