Homemade Play Dough (edible)

     I'm convinced my son believes we can totally live outside forever. He wakes up in the morning and requests to go play outside. Since I'm currently 9 months pregnant, chasing after him is a task. So, I've been challenged to find things to do outside to keep him entertained (and more importantly, keep him in one spot). A few days ago, I posted about making edible paint for toddlers. Well, since you never know what a toddler my try to put in their mouth, I wanted to find an edible play dough recipe. There are plenty out there. One thing I noticed though, most of them call for cream of tartar.... An ingredient I rarely keep around. So, I had to find one that would work without that ingredient.  We had just as much fun making it as we did playing with it. Here's the recipe:

4 cups of flour (I used AP)

1 cup of salt (I used regular table salt)

1 cup of hot water

2 T (tablespoons) of oil (regular vegetable oil is fine)

Food Coloring

*some recipes call for flavoring too, but I feel that's just asking for the toddler to eat it*

In a big seperate bowl stir together the flour and salt. In a cup measurer, put the water in the microwave for 2 minutes (it will be boiling hot, so keep it away from the children until the flour has been mixed in). Add the 2 tablespoons of oil into the hot water. I grabbed 4 seperate bowls (you can do how ever many you want depending on how many colors you want). I poured the water and oil in even amounts into each bowl (1/4 cup in each bowl). Then, I added about 3-4 drop of food coloring into each bowl (amount of coloring depends on how bright you want the dough). Then, I  took a cup measurer and evenly divided the flour and salt mixture into each bowl (about 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups per bowl). I used plastic knives (for easy clean up) and mixed each bowl. If any seem too dry, add a little more hot water. If any seem too wet/sticky, add some more flour until the right consistency. (Best way to describe the right consistency... is when it feels like the play dough you buy in the store). 

      I only gave him about 1/2 of  each color we made to play with today. Then, the rest, I stored in plastic bags to keep them fresh.