It’s the last hurrah of summer with the most incredible, unheard of, temperatures up to 29 degrees C at the end of September! So we’ve traded the usual wellies and raincoats for dresses and bare feet and are embracing every last minute of it with outside play-a-plenty!
The girls have a lovely lavender plant growing rather wildly in their play garden that we planted in the Spring, and it is currently providing a beautiful heady scent that fills the air.
C picked some recently and we used it to add a lovely natural scent to a new batch of purple, non-cook play dough. It smells absolutely wonderful when they play with it and is a nice alternative to flavourings!
Our favourite no-cook play dough recipe:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup salt
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp cream of tartar
- 1.5 cups of boiling water
- a big squeeze of liquid food colouring
- a few drops of glycerine (my secret extra ingredient for extra smoothness and shine!)
- Mix the dry ingredients. Stir through the oil. Add the boiling water and stir vigorously until all lumps are gone and it begins to come together. Then knead it until it stops being sticky. Add colouring and any flavouring/ natural scent at the kneading stage.
Cakie: 36 months
Pop: 18 months
Lovely idea. Will be making today with our lavender water x
We made this play-dough recipe one day late last week. Most of the students loved it and played for a long time with it.
I never made play dough with lavander! thank’s for this scented idea!
Ooh how utterly scrummy
No wonder you are UK MAD Blogger of the Year!!!!
Maggy x
Sounds wonderful. I might make some for me! (PS CONGRATULATIONS on your MAD award! I am so pleased but not at all surprised. Your blog is fabulous.)
THank you Rachel!! x
Brenna that’s great to hear. Thanks for telling me!
Fab idea! Could I ask how you made it purple? Did you mix red and blue or did you find purple food colouring?
Hi Anon! I used purple colouring, which SilverSpoon are now selling along with their usual colours! I was so excited when they first brought it out (not sure what that says about me, hehe!)
Thank you for replying. Well I’m just as excited as you, especially since today is supermarket day…!
I am loving making the scented playdoh and the ease of not cooking but only pouring the hot water into it! Do you store and reuse wheat you have made? When I get it out to use again later, it seems the smells are not so lovely. Of course the idea of not reusing is freeing as it doesn’t matter if colors get mixed or it get dirt on it. Just make some more. Oh and I was wondering where do you get black food coloring?
Sorry I am posting this anonymous. I tried my wordpress name, but they don’t like it.
thankyou VERY MUCH!!!
Do you know how to make the lavender food coloring, using the colours red, blue, green and yellow? Any answer would be appreciated.
Thank you very much
What a lovely idea for playdough, Anna! I featured your post and photo in my Montessori-Inspired Spring Playdough Activities at http://livingmontessorinow.com/2013/03/18/montessori-monday-montessori-inspired-spring-playdough-activities/