Play Dough

For some extra sensory play, I made Xander some home made play dough.  I had no idea what he would think of it, but I figured it was worth a shot.  The first batch I made in red to go with our color themes.  I used a salt dough recipe from the internet and used regular food coloring.  Unfortunately, it ended up pretty pink (what you see in the pictures).  The next day I was able to pick up some of the gel food coloring I love and got a much richer color.

To start with, I put the dough in front of him and showed him how to cut it with a plastic knife.  Eventually I rolled it into little snakes, which were much easier for him to cut.  I also showed him how to roll the dough into little balls.  Apparently, they too closely resembled food, because he tried eating the balls.

For the second week of our Color Themes, I made some green dough using a recipe that used alum (from here).  This recipe stayed softer and felt better, so I will probably be using it in the future.  The recipe is as
follows:

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon powdered alum
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoons vanilla
food coloring

Mix all dry ingredients. Add oil and water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until reaching the consistency of mashed potatoes. Remove from heat and add vanilla and food coloring. Divide into balls and work in color by kneading the play dough.

Being a bit more experienced with play dough, Xander had much more fun with it during our green week.

He really enjoyed putting little pieces of dough in the container and shaking them out.

Squishing it in his fingers.

Tasting it again, just to be sure it is still yucky.