Day 23- Kids Summer Fun {Ideas & Activities}
Easy Peasy Play Dough Recipe by Double Trouble Daddy
To see ALL 31 kids ideas click here!
This play dough recipe is easy to make and has a fun super vibrant color. It is a great way to keep kids entertained inside to beat the heat this summer.
If you don’t like the weather, give it 15 minutes, it’ll change. – Anonymous Minnesotan
The weather back home used to change faster and more often than a Vegas dancer with a one girl show. In fact, on April 3, 1982, in Redwood County, Minnesota it was a beautify day. The high was 78 degrees and then a vigorous cold front dropped the temperature to 7. That 71 degree swing is the largest 24 hour temperature change recorded in Minnesota. That is one nice thing about living here in the desert is that you have a pretty good idea what’s going to happen with the weather from day to day. If it’s wintertime it will be cool (although not as cool as the Midwest!) and if it’s summertime…well, stay inside. Our average daily temperature in July is 106 degrees. That’s average, which means it creeps up higher than that, as well! Anything over 100 is just plain hot and I usually can’t tell the difference between 101 and 112 because when the mercury hits those levels, I’m sitting inside in 77 degree air conditioning, sipping on a cold beverage.
Knowing that my sons are going to care less about the heat than I do this summer, I’ve begun putting together ideas to keep them busy indoors, instead of out. I’ve stocked up on crayons and construction paper, I have some books put aside that they haven’t heard yet, and I’ve got all the supplies ready to make play-dough.
Yep, play-dough. It’s a great indoor toy! It helps with fine motor development, and pushes imagination and creativity, (not to mention it’s quiet!) It’s not expensive to purchase, but can be costly if it dries out, and what colors you are allowed is limited to the selection in the store. That’s why in our house, we make it.
There are a TON of different recipes out there, and we’ve tried about half of them. There are ones where you cook the dough (look for cream of tartar in the recipe). There are others where cooking isn’t required. Some use food-coloring as a dye. One of my favorites uses washable tempura paint. We have different colors on hand for other craft projects, and it’s non-toxic and available in some bright colors.
Easy Peasy Play Dough
- 2 1/2 cups of flour
- 1/2 cup of salt
- 2 cups of water
- 1/3 cup of vegetable oil
- Here’s what you do:
- First mix the salt and the flour
- Then boil water and oil together.
- Pour the oily water mixture into the dry ingredients and stir. Once it’s combined, let it cool for about 15 minutes until you can knead it without getting burnt. If you find that it’s too sticky, don’t be afraid to add a tiny bit more flour.
- Once it’s the right consistency, make a small hole in the white dough, and add a few drops of paint, and knead the color in until it’s blended.
- If you store it in a Tupperware container with a lid it should last a couple months, and by that time, it will be cool enough outside to go to the park!
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