When the Play Dough Recipe Goes Bad!

Using a home made play dough recipe has many advantages:

• It's far cheaper than the shop-bought stuff
  
• You can be sure that it is safe for toddler mouths!
• Your kids can help make it which is more fun for them
• You have complete control over the colours

But of course there is also that Dark Side! (cue evil Star Wars music...) Your kids can get in quite a mess:



The dough can turn into goop:

It can also go moldy but I couldn't find a picture of that, which is probably just as well!

In all seriousness, here's a few tips to make sure your play dough recipe comes out well, and you keep your kids and your environment safe:



1) If there is any cooking required in the recipe, do this yourself or very closely supervise an older child.

2) Before kneading your dough you might want to cover your working surface with something like wax paper. This helps prevent the dough from sticking and can prevent whatever it is covering.

3) Don't let the dough dry out (unless you are making dried ornaments of course). Keep whatever is not being used in an air-tight container. See the individual recipe pages to check whether or not that particular dough needs to be refrigerated.

4) Unless you have a special area that is designed for messy play, cover the work area with a plastic mat. Play dough and carpets o not mix! It is very difficult to get out! If it does get stuck in the carpet allow it to dry thoroughly and then pick it off with a knife.

5) Salty recipes can dry out soft skin. If you're using one of the recipes that contains a lot of salt make sure your children wash their hands afterwards and you might want to rub in a little baby lotion to keep them soft.

Fancy making that cute lady bug in the right sidebar? It comes from the book Creative Playdough Ideas for kids and this is just one of many creations featured in this step-by-step guide.