Chocolate Playdough for Valentine's Day

 We make a large batch of chocolate play dough each year around Valentine's Day and I never thought to give the kids some goods to actually make play dough chocolates. Yep, this was Em and G who took control of this fun afternoon.

 With a few different ice cube molds, mini muffin cups and a heart themed tin--these kids had a full chocolate factory going in our house.
If you have not yet made chocolate playdough, check out our super simple recipe here Chocolate Playdough Recipe.

 They used coffee beans to top their chocolates with, which added to the wonderful smell the playdough already had. This was just what our Monday afternoon called for today. Now, excuse me while I sneak away to enjoy some real chocolate while my kids are sleeping (late night confessions from a mom.)

Gingerbread Playdough

 We made some gingerbread playdough last week for our favorite kindergarten teacher and had to keep a batch for ourselves. When I put it out for the kids I gave them a few gingerbread men cookie cutters and little trinkets to decorate their dough cookies with. To my surprise they had much bigger plans for their new heavenly smelling dough-- gingerbread houses, of course!

Ingredients:

2 cups flour (+ 1/4 c for kneading)

1/2 cup salt

2 tbs cream of tartar

4 tbs oil

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg 

1 tbs. brown liquid watercolor paint (optional)

1 cup boiling water

1. Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl in order as listed. As soon as you add the boiling water begin mixing well.
2. Dump dough onto a flat surface and add remaining flour while kneading. 
3. Build a gingerbread house!

**This recipe varies a bit, if your dough is too dry add more hot water, too wet add more flour.

Pond Themed Playdough

 Emma's class has just started a pond study (I know, pretty cool, right?)  To go along with this fun theme I made some pond inspired playdough for her to explore with after school today. She was thrilled and had so much fun building little ponds and showing me all the things she has been learning.

 What does pond playdough smell like you wonder? That was my dilemma at first and then...of course! Tea tree oil! Perfect to give the dough an earthy sort of smell. Tea tree oil is also anti-viral and a natural lice repellent...oh yea, tea tree dough is looking good for a kindergarten classroom!

Recipe for Pond Playdough

2 cups + 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 tbs cream of tartar

3 tbs oil

4 drops of tea tree oil

1 cup boiling water

liquid watercolors

1. Add 2 cups flour, salt, cream of tartar, tea tree oil and oil to a large bowl.

2. Add the boiling water and quickly mix everything together. The dough will be sticky and seem too wet at this point.

3. Dump the dough to a flat surface and slowly add a little bit of the remainder flour at a time while kneading. Once the dough is a nice soft texture and no longer sticky stop adding flour.

4. Divide dough into 3 balls and knead watercolors into each ball. We did brown, green and blue to keep with our pond theme.

Lavender Playdough

 If there was an ambassador of homemade playdough I think I would own that title! I started making my own playdough when I realized how sensitive little ones can be and with no words to verbalize their feelings sensory play is very therapeutic and relaxing.  Making my own playdough allows me to create something that is not just fun to play with, but very calming as well.

 I first made lavender playdough for Emma when she was having trouble separating from me during her first year of preschool. After very emotional days she would come home and we would relax with our lavender dough. She loved it and I surely didn't mind my home smelling like a peaceful retreat while I played with my children!

  

Lavender Playdough Recipe

2 cups + 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 tbs. cream of tartar

3 tbs. oil

4-6 drops lavender oil 

1-2 drops or liquid watercolor paints or food coloring (optional)

1 cup boiling hot water

 dried lavender flowers (optional)

 1. Add 2 cups flour, salt, cream of tartar, oil, lavender oil and food color to a large mixing bowl. Start with a few drops of lavender oil. You can add more later if you want a stronger scent.
2. Pour your water into the bowl and mix away.

 3. Once your dough looks like this, sticky and starting to form a ball-- you can dump it onto a flat surface to knead. Adding a little of the remaining flour at a time until it is no longer sticky. The dough is very soft and firms a little bit as it cools. You don't want to add too much flour and lose the softness.

 Once you have your dough to the right consistency you can knead in some dried lavender flowers if you desire to do so. This touch may have been for me...I just love lavender.

 

 We love using walnut shells and cookie cutters with our playdough.

Wishing you a peaceful day of fun!

Minty Green Playdough

St. Patrick's Day is tomorrow! I can't wait to celebrate with a day full of green everything, yummy food and treasure hunts! I will definitely be whipping up a new batch of green minty playdough. This is really easy to make and so much better than store bought dough. Bonus-the kids love to get involved in making the playdough too!

 This recipe is a super easy one...flour, salt, cream of tartar, oil, hot water and of course the "secret ingredient" a frosting creations packet. Check out my full recipe here... Minty Green Playdough.

My kids use everything from birthday candles to rocks to play with their playdough. These things definitely win over any plastic toy tools.
Have a wonderful "green" weekend!!

Frosting Creations Play Dough--Best Dough Ever!

 We use kool-aid packets to make our play dough all the time. It smells yummy and gives our dough some great color. I also love that my children only know of it as a play dough ingredient and nothing more! Haha!

 When I stumbled upon a new colorful flavored packet I had to give it a shot! Have you seen these? They are Frosting Creations by Duncan Hines, apparently used to flavor frosting, but for us a new play dough ingredient! I haven't seen them anywhere but Target so far and they are pretty inexpensive.

 So we gave it a try with our usual dough recipe.
Add 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup of salt (table salt, but not ionized,) 2 tbs cream of tartar, 3 tbs oil and one packet of Frosting Creations. This one is the cotton candy flavor.

 Next, add 1 cup hot water (like boiling temp) and mix it all together. The dough will be pretty sticky, but that's how you want it to be. This is a soft dough.

 Dump it onto a working surface and sprinkle with a little more flour while kneading like pizza dough. Don't add too much flour or you will get a not so soft play dough.

 This is what you want. It may seem too sticky, but it hardens up a bit as it cools.

The kids absolutely loved their new yummy smelling play dough and I definitely like these smells over the kool-aid ones. There is a caramel that I can't wait to try!
Let me know which one you try!

Chocolate Play Dough For Valentine's Day

2 cups + 1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup salt
2 tbs cream of tartar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3 tbs oil
1 1/2 cup boiling water

In a mixing bowl add 2 cups flour, salt, cream of tartar, cocoa powder and oil. Add the boiling water and mix until well blended. The dough will be very sticky at this point. Place the dough onto a hard surface and knead while adding the rest of the flour until it becomes soft and no longer sticky.

We love using heart shaped candy molds and cookie cutters with our chocolate dough.
This is a great opening act for all those Valentine's crafts that are coming our way as we approach February.
Happy early heart day!! xoxo

Play Dough Cake for New Year's Eve

Along with your bottle of wine for the adult party guests bring something special for your little party goers! We made this homemade play dough cake this afternoon to bring to a kid friendly party we have been invited to.
Using the follwing recipe I made three seperate batches of play dough, all scented with different flavors of kool-aid. Next, Emma and I made a three layer cake and decorated the top with glitter and a play dough "2013!"
Super Easy Kool-Aid Play dough:
1. Mix 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup salt, 1 package of kool-aid (no sugar envelope pack) and 2 tbs cream of tartar.
2. Next, add 3 tsp oil and slowly add 1 1/2 cups boiling water. Small amounts at a time until your dough forms. Mix, knead and enjoy! 
If your dough is too wet, add more flour. Too dry, add more water.

Happy New Year!

Holiday Gift for Teachers

 Isn't it a strange thing the first time you send your wee little one into the arms of another to be cared for, taught, nurtured and loved? I feel so blessed to have already (in our short school age days) had some amazing teachers in Emma's life. I always like to make sure our teachers know just how much we appreciate them.
Here are a couple extra special touches we added to the teacher holiday gift this year. The card above involved each child in the class. Over a couple weeks I some how got each child to answer this question "What gift do you hope Ms. Amanda gets for the holidays?" I wrote their gift wish for their teacher and they signed their names on round card stock pieces that I cut out with a paper punch. With a few extra touches a very special card came together and the kids sweet answers to this question were funny, touching, sweet and very thoughtful. It's always great to hear what five-year old's have to say.

 This frame was easily made with some chalkboard paint and allowed me to personalize a class photo for our amazing teacher.

Just throwing in a simple way to say Happy Holidays to the children's friends. Homemade play dough packaged nicely is always warmly welcomed in my house (especially over sugary treats!)

I hope you find wonderful ways to thank the people in our lives that take on the job of being there for our children in so many ways. I know for me I can never actually show how I appreciate these great people that make lasting impressions on my children.

Summer Sand Playdough

Today we made sand dough and I couldn't stop thinking of how, oh how can possibly make huge batches of this to send to each child I know. Yes, it was that great. This is basically mold-able sand and my kids had such fun with it! I gave them rocks and bugs to use with the dough, but they eventually started to add in their own nature findings. 

Best Playdough Ever Recipe!
4 cups of play sand
4 cups of flour
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup oil

Mix all ingredients and knead to soften up. Done. Go play!