I am not keen on play dough. There, I said it! It has the bad habit of crumbling everywhere, sticking to the carpet and getting stuck between floorboards, which I find really annoying and impossible to clean, but my children love it! There is always a play dough table at playgroups, so I do not normally feel bad about hiding the stuff at home.
Despite all that, I woke up this morning thinking I wanted to spend time with my children doing something they would really like, rather than something that was convenient for me. It was quickly decided we would have a bit of play dough action. I was also thinking of Jumpy (1 year 3 months), who has not played with it yet as she is allergic to wheat. They use flour in the one they make at playgroups we go to and the industrially made Play-Doh is not wheat free either.
I had a quick look on the Internet. They all replaced wheat flour with a mix of rice flour and corn starch, both of which I had in my cupboard. I was quite happy to find a use for rice flour as the two recipes I used it for (ice cream and cake for Jumpy) were disasters. No one was going to eat the play dough (in theory), so I was not worried about its taste! I removed the flour from a recipe I had used a few times before, went for the amount of rice flour and corn flour suggested in gluten free recipes and added a bit of vanilla essence for the smell.
When Jumpy was having her nap this morning, Crevette (5 years 6 months) and Beanie (3 years 4 months) both got involved with the measuring of ingredients and mixing, getting particularly enthusiastic when we started adding food colouring to our pieces of dough. They kneaded, rolled and played. I have to say I was really pleased with the result. It looked and felt the same as the dough I had made before.
I even joined in with the fun when they took out a few plastic dinosaurs and their favourite bedtime story of the moment, “Dinosaurs Love Underpants” and started making underwear out of play dough. We had a lot of fun talking about the story, about which dinosaur should have which pair of pants, and what shapes they were cutting to decorate their underwear (circles, stars, stripes).
Who would have thought that we would end up doing some geometry and storytelling whilst messing around with play dough? Not me! It is great letting the children have fun whilst learning just for the sheer pleasure of it. That was definitely a magic morning for us!
After we came back from our Saturday swimming sessions, we were all very excited to let Jumpy have a go. I was fondly picturing all three kids having hours of fun together. Jumpy took an orange ball of dough, walked around with it for a bit, looked at me as if to say, “What do you want me to do with that, mum?”, licked it, realised it did not taste nice, and discarded it. She did make me laugh, bless her!
Just before bed, Crevette and Beanie asked me to read “Dinosaurs Love Underpants” and we decided to match the underwear they had made out of play dough with various dinosaurs. Crevette thought T-Rex should be wearing the pink dotty pants so it would make it look girly and less scary. It was decided the pink and red stripy ones should go to Triceratops just because Beanie thought it would like them. As for the blue with yellow stars ones, the smallest, they went to Diplodocus to stick to the story.
The dough went everywhere and I still have some under my nails, but I could not care less. It was a great day and we kept the dough in a sealed plastic bag to make sure we could all play again tomorrow.
Homemade Gluten and Wheat Free Play Dough
Ingredients
- 1 cup (140g) white rice flour
- ½ cup (60g) corn flour
- 2 tbsp (30g) cream of tartar
- ½ cup (170g) salt
- 1 tablespoon (13ml) oil
- 1 cup (240ml) water
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- food colouring or glitter optional
Instructions
- Put your dry ingredients together in a sauce pan.
- Add wet ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon.
- Cook over a low to medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent scorching, until the mixture forms a large ball (No more than 5 minutes).
- Turn out the dough onto a work surface and knead it until smooth. If you feel the dough is too sticky, you can add a bit more corn flour.
- Be creative now! Divide your batch into balls, make a well in the middle of each ball and add food colouring to one, glitter to another, kneading to make sure the colour or glitter is combined well and looks even.
- Have fun!
Recipe Notes
I tend to use gloves when first adding in the food colouring. Store in a sealed plastic container or zip bag.
That looks really good! We do have Play Doh here, though yes, the 17 month-old regularly tries to eat some, so a wheat allergy would cause us issues there. Love how you tied it in with the story-telling -might be getting the play doh out here today and doing just that! Thanks 🙂
Funny how they always try to eat everything. Go on, have fun, get the dough out! My little ones are still really excited about it this morning and are now making play dough ice cream! Mel
What a fantastic idea and so beautifully presented, this is such a good post x
Thanks, we all enjoyed it very much. Just put it all away an hour ago so it was really worth it! x Mel
Looks like a great form of play dough, you get the fun of making it before playing with it! My kids would love it, might have to try it. Love the play dough pants 🙂
Thanks for linking #LetKidsBeKids
Thanks Karen, it is perfect play dough actually and the making process was quick, easy and we all enjoyed it. What more could you ask for? Let me know if you try it. Mel
What a lovely idea to make different colours at the same time and then use a story to bring it to life! I bet no play-dough was lost on the floor today!
Thanks for commenting! Well, I would not be completely honest if I said none of it stayed stuck to the carpet, but for once, I did not mind at all! It was great fun, and Jumpy actually enjoyed playing with the dough this morning. After she realised licking it for longer would not make it taste nicer (so glad I went for wheat free!), she sort of used cookie cutter to make animal shapes (by “sort of”, I mean she enjoyed looking at me doing it for her, really!). x Mel
Gorgeous pics; and WELL DONE YOU for bringing out play-doh!
I’m crazy about my plastic mats right now… play-doh on plastic = a lot less cleaning 😉
How big are your plastic mats? Just asking because I actually find play dough miles away from the table where they are playing, haha! Mel
I love this! I’ve just emailed this recipe to a friend who I know will love it – thank you for sharing!
Kate x
Just Pirouette and Carry On…
Thanks for sharing! Mel
That is amazing looking play dough! #MagicMoments
Thanks Fiona, I am quite pleased with the way the pictures turned out, hihi. Mel
this sounds like a super idea i have the same feeling towards playdoh! i will have to bite the bullet soon though!
thanks for linking up with #MagicMoments x
Now I have been reading you for a few weeks, I figured out we both like to be in control, Jaime! Do try it, it is so nice to let go once you have it in your mind that 1) the carpet will get dirty, 2) it will go everywhere. If I enjoyed it, anyone can! (homemade stuff is much easier to clean than Play-Doh by the way!) x Mel
Great idea. My boys always eat it and it can’t taste good x
It does not taste good but at least, it is not toxic! x Mel
I love, love this post. I need to make some homemade play dough asap. Thanks for sharing. It looks like so much fun and learning all at once. Who could ask for more? Great post!
I know… and I did not even predict the learning part. The little things in life, hey! Let me know when you try it, Jenny! x Mel
Brilliant idea, Mel! 🙂
Thanks Jessica. Hours of fun! Mel
This is great, I’ve never made it before but I’m going to try this soon
Let me know when you have tried it, I am sure your little ones will love it! Mel
Oh wow these look so pretty-glad you can eat them too! A #tastytuesdays offering perhaps? !
Well I would not choose to eat the play dough, but it is nice to know the little ones should not get sick if they ingest a little bit (or lick it, in the case of my youngest). I will be posting a recipe by the end of the week, so I will be back in the Tasty Tuesdays game next week (promise!). Mel
haha! No worries!
What lovely colours….it as if you coordinated them with the dinos’ underpants! Boy is past that stage now, but I well remember that book and my resistance to play dough (guilt assuaged by occasional forays to the pottert cafe). Your blog looks beautiful. #Magicmoments.
Thanks a lot Sarah, I really appreciate your comment, especially about the way the blog looks. It was one of those rare moments when an activity you think might be a disaster ends up being one of the best days of fun and peaceful play with the little ones.
This looks amazing. I really love how you’ve found a way around everything allergy-related! You’re very much a lady after my own heart where this is concerned 😉
Thanks, I make sure she gets included in everything so that when she grows up, she does not feel different. She will just have to learn very early on what she is and is not allowed to have. Her brother (5) and sister (3) already know and they are brilliant at telling people not to give her anything she could be allergic to. x Mel
Regards for helping out, superb information.
I am glad you found it useful! Let me know if you try making it.
That sounds great and the playdough looks great too. Have bookmarked this so I can give home-made dough a try 🙂
Thanks, lovely lady! It really has a great texture and keeps for months in a zip bag or sealed container. I like to add vanilla extract or lemon essence to make it smell nice. x
What a great idea…had never thought of making my own. I will now..thank you
It is much nicer than play doh, and if you want it to smell nice, you can just add fruit flavourings. They are really cheap on Amazon.