Tried and True Playdough Recipe!

I've surfed up and made many different playdough recipes, and most of them could not compare to Play-doh.  I had suspected for a while that Lukas might allergic to something in Play-doh since he seemed to get itchy while playing with it.  I hadn't let him get it out for in months because of my suspicions.  When he received a glorious selection of beautiful vibrant Play-doh from his grandparents, I had to let him have his fun.  A few minutes after playing with it, he started scratching so I had to face facts: Lukas is allergic to something in Play-doh.  

Although advertised as non-toxic it contains not only water, salt, and a starch based binder, but also retrogradation inhibitor, borax, petroleum, lubricant, surfactant, preservative, hardener, humectant, fragrance and color.  That is quite a chemical cocktail so it's no surprise Lukas reacted to it.

There are tons of recipes out there but a reviewer said this one's texture was the most like Play-Doh.  It involves the stove but it's still very quick, easy and worth the hassle!

Ingredients:
2 cups water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used light olive)
1 cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
2-4 cups flour
Natural food coloring
1 drop lavendar oil (scent)

Combine water, oil, salt, cream of tartar, and food coloring in a saucepan and heat until warm.  Remove from heat and add flour until the right consistency is achieved.  I started with 2 cups and then added more until it was right.  (I accidentally put the first 2 cups of flour in the saucepan and it still turned out great).  Stir and then knead until smooth. Separate into as many different colors as you want and mix in the colors!  This was my sons' favorite step. The red food coloring exploded out of the middle of my play-dough so I screamed and tricked my husband and oldest son into thinking I cut myself.  They totally fell for it!  Is that mean?

 

Since this playdough is truly natural, I let him use our pasta maker.  He played with the pasta maker and playdough for HOURS!!!