26) Make PlayDough

I have some how made it my whole life without ever having made playdough, which considering I have spent most of my adult years as either an art teacher or a Mom is pretty amazing. However today September 16th is National Playdough Day, so i figured it was a good day to give it a try. After looking at line at countless recipes all claiming to be the best, i went with this one: http://www.playdoughrecipes.net/ mostly because i liked the photo and i had all the ingredients. The Bee and I got started mixing 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of salt, 1 cup of water and 1tbsp of oil together in a sauce pan and stirring over medium heat. After a few minutes of constant stirring it started to get gooey (the directions said like mashed potatoes) so we took it off the heat added 2tbsp of vanilla and mixed it again. Once off the heat it started to firm up a little and we took it out and divided it into four chunks on a piece of wax paper. The dough was still really gooey so I let it firm up a few more minutes, while the Bee made her color selections. I used gel food coloring because that was what we had and used a toothpick to prick the dough with food coloring. Then I kneaded the dough for a few minuted to blend the colors. The Bee helped with this process and we both had some dye on our hands but it came off within a wash or two. After mixing the dough, and of course playing with it for a while, I found some old plastic baby food containers and used them to store the dough in. The directions said it is good for a few weeks. This afternoon I am going to give the Bean a chance to play too! Anyone else ever made playdough and have a good recipe they recommend?