Home made play dough

 Playing with play dough is one of the ways recommended to help kids develop their fine motor skill and hand-eye coordination, which is an important element in learning to write. I learned about this fact from my son's school, in the notes slipped in his folder, suggesting the ideas for developing fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination.

We can easily purchase ready made play dough from toy shops or alternatively make it by ourselves.

I have tried making play dough using the recipe below once...(I cannot remember exactly when, but it was somewhere last year). It turned out so well. Today, I am making it again for my kids.

Play dough recipe

Source: The Imagination Tree

Ingredients:

• 2 cups plain flour (all purpose)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
• Up to 1.5 cups boiling water (adding in increments until it feels just right) - in my case, 1 cup of water turned out perfect
• food colouring (optional) - I used gel food colouring
• few drops glycerine (optional- adds more shine!) - I didn't put

Method:

• Mix the flour, salt, cream of tartar and oil in a large mixing bowl
• Add the boiling water
• Stir continuously until it becomes a sticky, combined dough
• Add the food colouring and glycerine (both optional)
• Allow it to cool down then take it out of the bowl and knead it vigorously for a couple of minutes until all of the stickiness has gone. * This is the most important part of the process, so keep at it until it’s the perfect consistency!*
• (If it remains a little sticky then add a touch more flour until just right)

It is time to play, play and play!