Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Homemade play dough

orange play dough 03-09-11 8

After I found out that there can be some nasty chemicals (including Borax which is toxic) in commercial play-doh, and also knowing that kids loooove to eat the stuff, I decided that it would be best if I made all of the Llama's play dough from scratch.

Searching the web it didn't look all that difficult, all the recipes had the same five or so ingredients (salt, water, flour, cream of tartar, oil), and they were all relatively cheap and easy to get. But the ratios of those ingredients varied widely from recipe to recipe. So I started experimenting.

orange play dough 03-09-11 6

I started with this recipe, halved.
It barely fit into our larger sauce pan, and came out really oily, whenever we used it the table and our hands were really greasy afterwards.

Then I went looking again, I found many other recipes but none really looked just right, I wanted something with a large amount of salt to keep it as un-tasty as possible, enough oil to keep it 'moist' and workable but not so much to turn us into grease monsters, and small enough to fit in our pot.

I eventually ended up with this recipe:

1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 c water
2/3 c salt
1 Tbsp cream of tartar*
2 Tbsp oil

Mix salt, water and cream of tartar in a pan and bring to a simmer.
Add oil, then sifted flour and stir until it comes together in a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan.
Turn out onto the counter and carefully pat out to maximize cooling.
When dough is cool enough to handle, kneed the dough until it forms a nice smooth dough.
Knead in food color and have fun!

* Cream of tartar is an acid and is used to somehow interact with the gluten in the flour to prevent the dough from turning into a hard rubber ball or into a pile of slime. 3 Tbsp white vinegar can be substituted, but beware that the resulting dough will smell quite strongly for a while.
if you plan on making a lot of this, be sure to buy your cream of tartar at a food co-op or bulk store, because the tiny jars from the supermarket are incredibly over priced.

orange play dough 03-09-11 5

We've had both batches sitting on the counter in freezer bags for over a week. we take them out every day or so to play with them and they are still in good shape. I also tried storing some in an old peanut butter jar and that one seems to be faring just as well as the others. The web sites I've been reading say that the home made play dough can last several months. But really, who can wait that long before wanting to make another batch? I think next time I'll split the batch into thirds and make each one a different color, and I can store them in all the old peanut butter jars we've been saving.

tommys first play dough 03-06-11 4

Monday, March 14, 2011

Toddler sox

We somehow managed to loose one of the Llama's stripy sox at my last doctors appointment, bummer.

But it was a good excuse to make him some new ones!


Pair the first:

sox and sillyness 03-01-11 sox

Needles: US size 2 (2.75 mm)
Yarn: Knitpicks Felici in Aurora and Knipicks Stroll in Purple

sox and sillyness 03-01-11 on up

sox and sillyness 03-01-11 on bottom



Pair the second:

tommy tiger sox 03-08-11

Same needles
Yarn: Knitpicks Stroll in Pumpkin and Dorchester Farms Handpainted in oranges and black

tiger sox 03-09-11 1

tiger sox 03-09-11 2



and a cute sock story:

The other day I had put the Llama's socks on, and he had quickly thereafter taken them off again.
A bit later I needed to leave for a while and when I came back the Lama Papa reported that as soon as the Llama had realized I was gone, he had gotten his socks and made the Lama Papa put them on him. He then left them on until I returned, at which point they quickly came back off again.

I'm not quite sure what to make of that! :D
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