Make your own Gingerbread play dough!

My kids love anything that is squishy, moldable and fun, and Mommy loves anything that keeps them busy with a productive activity for a long time! So play dough is always a favourite in our house, they love playing with it all the time, so I usually pick it up at the dollar store when I see it to have it on hand. The only thing about the store bought play dough is that it dries up quickly, makes a mess with little bits all over the floor and it doesn’t smell great either. We’ve tried making play dough ourselves before, but never found the ‘best’ recipe, until now!

  While I was thinking of fun winter activities to do with the kids I started looking up different recipes for gingerbread play dough.  After reading a bunch we decided to make up a recipe ourselves with whatever we had on hand, as a compilation of all the different recipes we read and it turned out great!  It’s the perfect soft texture and smells amazing! (but don’t eat it, it would be a BIT salty! haha)  so here is our no fail recipe for amazing and fun ginger bread play doh that takes minutes to make, but lasts for hours of fully occupied kids play time. (yesssss) 

Gingerbread Play dough Ingredients: (makes enough for 3 or 4 kids)

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup of salt

4 tsp cream of tarter

4 tsp cinnamon

5 tsp powdered ginger

1 tbls vanilla extract

3 tbls olive oil (vegetable or canola, whatever you have on hand)

2 cups water

1 medium sized sauce pan and a large strong metal spoon

We mixed up all the dry ingredients in a big bowl first, then added in the moist ingredients until everything was incorporated. In retrospect we realized you can just mix everything right in the sauce pan and cut down on your dirty dishes, so I would definitely recommend just doing that instead of transferring it from the bowl to the sauce pan. Once everything is mixed up turn your burner on medium heat and stir the mixture constantly with a big metal spoon. You will start to doubt that it will actually work, but just keep on persevering! Mix until it becomes one big clump that you literally can’t mix around anymore. Turn your heat off and take all the dough out and put it on a big plate. Let it cool a minute, then use your hands to really knead it all in together and you’ll be so pleased as you see it become the most soft and lovely play dough as you knead it.

  Once it’s all cooled it’s play time :)  I put out different cookie cutters, toothpicks and a roller and the kids had a ball for hours, they even had a fake ‘baking competition’  (they love watching baking shows on the food network so I think that’s where that came from!) When they were done playing I stored it in a big plastic container with a lid so they could use it again another time.  That’s it! It was honestly so easy to make, the kids mostly mixed it all up themselves with me helping during the stove top part.  Let me know if you make this play dough too and how your kids enjoy it! 

stay cozy,

Shelley