9.10.2009

Natural play dough colors

We love play dough around here. Especially the real home-made stuff that I don't have to worry about when it gets eaten by toddlers or run through the hair of preschoolers. The kids love helping to mix it all up and watching it go from a cooking class concoction to beautiful play dough all in a matter of minutes. We often just mix up a little food coloring to achieve the desired color of the day, which is always a good lesson in color mixing, but thanks to the October Issue of Family Fun Magazine our home-made play dough recipe just got a little more natural. We stuck with our tried and true play-dough recipe (which I've posted below) but used their natural dyes to color it.
BROWN Cocoa Powder
FUCHSIA Hot Beet Juice
ORANGE Paprika
YELLOW Turmeric Root

The magazine gives specific amounts based on the play dough recipe that they give, but since I was using a different recipe I just added enough water to make 1 cup to each of my dye ingredients.
PERFECT PLAY DOUGH
1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
2 Tablespoons Cream of Tartar
1 cup water
1 Tablespoon oil
Combine flour, salt, and cream of tartar. Add water (which is also the dye mixture) and oil. Cook and stir over medium heat. Stir for 3-5 minutes, mixture will be sticky. When a ball begins to form in the center of the pan remove and knead. Store in an airtight container.

3 comments:

Sarah said...

we are gonna have to try that. like tomorrow.

heather jane said...

What a great idea! I have pickled beets on my list for later this week and now I'll now what to do with the rest of the juice. I knew it would be good for dying, I just never thought of play dough!

Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the recipe! I had seen it in Family Fun but couldn't locate the magazine again. I wanted to make this for my niece to give her on her 2nd birthday along with some things to roll and cut the dough that I ordered from Fat Brain Toys.