Oh, the joys of play dough! Really, it's such a fun sensory activity, but the fun begins way before we start playing because, in our house, we make our play dough. It's super simple and fun, and adding Essential Oils gives it another dimension because kids can pick their favorite scents or you can make it for a special occasion and scent it appropriately. For instance, we make candy cane play dough at Christmas and scent it with Peppermint Essential Oil, or you could make sleepy time play dough that you scent with Lavender Essential Oil. We love calm-down play dough, that we scent with Serenity, dōTERRA's calming Essential Oil blend.
We've had many a fun playdate where we make big batches of play dough. The kids get to have loads of fun both making and playing with it, and then each child gets to go home with a baggie of play dough they made.
We also like to match our colors to scents:
Yellow play dough = Lemon Essential Oil
Green play dough = Rosemary Essential Oil
Orange play dough = Wild Orange Essential Oil
Red play dough = Cinnamon Essential Oil
Blue play dough = Peppermint Essential Oil
There are so many options for this, so play with it and have some fun!!
Ingredients
2 Cups of Flour
2 Tbsp of Oil (any oil will do, coconut oil, vegetable oil, even olive oil)
1/2 Cup of Salt
2 Tbsp Cream of Tartar
1 1/2 Cup Boiling Water
- Begin by mixing all your dry ingredients in a bowl
- Next, pour the boiling water in a measuring cup and add both your coloring agent and the Essential Oil.
- Pour your liquid into your bowl of dry ingredients and mix well. BE CAREFUL, THIS IS HOT!!!! I start mixing with a wooden spoon, and when it cools just enough, I mix it with my hands. My kids LOVE to mix the play dough when it's cool enough to handle!
*If you're feeling extra crazy, you can add glitter to your dry ingredients. This can be a fun addition for a special activity like fairy dust play dough to go with a book about fairies or magic. Let your imagination run wild with this one!
This play dough should last about 6 months, stored in an airtight container. Truth be told, we've kept ours longer than this, but why wait to make more??