Naturally Dyed Homemade Play Dough

My daughter had a sick day at home the other day and was bored out of her mind, so we made some homemade play dough!  Homemade play dough is so much better than the store bought kind because I think it lasts longer and I know exactly what is in it... and isn't everything better homemade?? 

We made two kinds of naturally dyed play dough.  For brown we used about 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder and added it with the flour. 

For the gold, we used ground turmeric and put about one teaspoon in a cup of water in a small saucepan.  Bring it to a boil and then simmer for about 20 minutes or until the liquid is about reduced by half.

You can use blueberries, strawberries or any other berry and use the condensing method explained above and then strain to get a variety of colors.  Remember, if you are using a liquid color, put the color in a measuring cup and then add the water to make a full cup.  This way, the liquid measurement will be right.

Recipe

• 1 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
• ½ cup salt
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 cup water
• your choice of coloring

Mix flour, cream of tartar, and salt in a pan. Mix desired coloring with water, add with oil to dry mixture. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until thick and forms a ball.  Let the dough cool a little bit, then kneed it a few times on a board.  That's it!

Store it in a sealed container and keep it away from pets.  The amount of salt in this recipe is toxic to animals if they eat it!!

We also made red and green, but we cheated and used a small package of sugar free jello, cranberry and lime.  They sure smelled good!