I am not known for my homemade, DIY skills. I like doing kids’ crafts and can come up with some ideas without pinterest from time to time, but that’s about as far as it goes. Before Christmas, I saw this post from The Artful Parent (love that site) about making “candy cane” playdough as a gift, and I was inspired to make my own playdough gift for some of the kiddos that I love! I made the playdough she recommended, except I made green and red and called it Christmas playdough. I put some of each color in disposable Tupperware containers (much cheaper than mason jars), and made little labels to put on top. I also printed out these Christmas-themed playdough mats and slipped them into page protectors (cheaper than laminating!). I picked up some of those really cheap (like 25 cents) Christmas-themed paper bags to put it all in, and VIOLA! I was so pleased with my little gift that I decided to create labels and play mats for some upcoming holidays and share them with all of you!
Let’s talk playdough!
Here are two great recipes I’ve used and really like.
Homemade Playdough Recipe from The Artful Parent
**This recipe makes a very large batch! Cut it in half if you don’t need enough to fill a 5-6 quart pot.
Ingredients:
•5 cups water
•5 cups flour
•2 1/2 cups salt
•3 Tablespoons cream of tartar
•10 Tablespoons vegetable oil
•Food coloring
•Glitter (optional)
•Essential Oil (optional)
Instructions:
Mix water, salt, cream of tartar, and food coloring. Cook on medium-low heat, stirring regularly until mixture is hot. Add oil. Stir in flour a cup at a time, stirring in between each addition. Mix until playdough pulls away from pan and is no longer sticky (pinch it between your fingers to test). Dump dough on counter, let cool a bit, then knead.
The Best No-Cook Playdough Recipe from 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)
•food coloring (optional)
•few drops glycer9ine (optional- adds more shine!)
Instructions:
•Mix the flour, salt, cream of tartar and oil in a large mixing bowl
•Add food coloring TO the boiling water then into the dry ingredients (color optional)
•Stir continuously until it becomes a sticky, combined dough
•Add the glycerine (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
For each holiday, you can customize your playdough with appropriate colors and even add scents with essential oils. If you choose to add essential oils, do this after the playdough is made and cooled.
Let’s talk printables!
I’ve whipped up some labels and play mats for you to use for Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Easter. You could get super fancy and laminate them, or you could go with a more budget-friendly approach and use contact paper or plastic document sleeves (like I did for my Christmas gifts).
Valentine’s Day Printables
Click here to print these labels: ValentineLabels
Click here to print these play mats:
St. Patrick’s Day Printables
Click here to print these labels: StPatrickLabels
Click here to print these play mats:
Easter Printables
Click here to print these labels: EasterLabels
Click here to print these play mats:
Another option to add to this gift is some small craft materials that can be used as decorations. Things like pipe cleaners, pom poms, pony beads, jewels, googly eyes, confetti, etc. Many of these items can be found at the dollar store!
Enjoy!
