Easy Homemade Playdough

My mom made us homemade playdough growing up, and I've always meant to do so for my kids, but just never got around to it.  Until my daughter needed a medium with which to sculpt a school project, and I don't even know if they sell playdough around here.  Not wanting to venture to the store that day to check, I just looked up a recipe quickly and went for it. 

I ended up making four batches (the 4 colors shown above) because making one batch was SO easy and took only a few minutes!  Not only is this easy and cheap, the kids LOVE it!  It keeps them entertained for one to two hours each time they play with it, and they all sit and play with it together, which is nice.  I keep this in a cheap plastic container like Gladware, and it stores very nicely.  I've heard homemade playdough lasts forever.... we've only had ours about a month, but it's still good as new! 

Easy Homemade Playdough
adapted from Musings of a SAHM

1 cup flour

1 cup water

2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/3 cup salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

food coloring (I used Wilton Gel food colorings)

1.  Mix together all the ingredients, except the food coloring, in a 2 quart saucepan (non-stick is best for this). Cook over low/medium heat, stirring. Once it begins to thicken, add the food coloring. Continue stirring until the mixture is much thicker and begins to gather around the spoon.  Remove the dough onto wax paper or a plate to cool.

2.  Once it cools (20-30 minutes), knead until totally smooth and playdough-like.  Store in an airtight container once it is totally cool. 

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