Play Dough

I made play dough for the kids today. I read the recipe and thought I really wanted it to be colored like the dough we buy at the store. I looked at the selection of food coloring at the store and didn't like the idea. I remember dying eggs a couple years ago with veggies and thought it would be a good idea with our play dough. Homemade play dough generally doesn't last as long as store bought, so I figured it's really not a big deal to add fresh fruit and veggies to it. Step by step here is the process.

1. Make your veggie dyes. In the pan to the front left I used shredded beets and water. I only added about a cup of water to 4 shredded beets and the color came out intense. In the pan to the front right are blueberries, blackberries and a cup of water. The berries add to the liquid. Again a nice bold color. In the pan to the back right we added orange zest, shredded carrots, yellow onion peel and a tiny touch of curry powder. I let these simmer for about half an hour.

2. Using a strainer with a towel I strained each dye free of pulp and seeds. Below is the red beet dye.

3. In a pan we placed half a cup of the dye liquid. 1 cup baking soda as seen here

4. Then added a half cup of corn starch. This is the first time corn starch has been allowed in my house. I then turned on the heat and began stirring the mixture with a fork. Bring it to a boil and stir constantly and it will thicken up. If it gets too thick and dry you can simply place in a bowl and add a little bit more dye mixture. Knead it in until you reach the desired consistency.

Our yellow dough

Red

Blue

This was a fun project and probably would have been more suited for my homeschool blog except I did this project alone. I have another recipe for a salt dough I want to try, so we will compare the two and see how they rate.