The kids have been on a slime making kick, which has been fun and messy in a good way, but making it seems to be the most entertaining part and trusting it in the hands of the younger ones hasn’t worked out too well (oops!). Let’s just say it’s hard to get out of fabric. To accommodate the kids’ love of mixing and making, and my general need for them to be occupied for a few constructive moments, we decided to make some good ol’ fashioned play dough with a jello twist just for fun, pretty colors and yummy smells. Oh, and lack of food coloring.
There are endless amounts of very similar recipes out there, but scroll down to see how we made ours…
JELLO PLAY DOUGH DIY
You’ll Need:
- 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil (veggie or canola)
- 1/4 cup salt
- 1 cup flour, plus more for kneading
- 1 cup water
- 3 oz. (or 6 tablespoons) jello powder (you can sub for food coloring or kool-aid)
Here’s How:
- Combine ingredients in a small saucepan. Stir over medium heat continuously until the contents “glob” together :) — see pic below.
- Scoop “glob” onto a floured work surface and let cool.
- Knead flour into play dough until no longer sticking to fingers.
- Play and/or store in airtight bag or container for up to a month.
The time between cooking, cooling and kneading was a little long to keep my kids’ attention, so I did all the cooking and they did most of the kneading and flouring which they thoroughly enjoyed and I had a dustpan full of flour after this project to prove it, ha! Flour is kinda like glitter in that every time you think you’re finished cleaning it up, you find more. But the mess is totally worth it or at least that’s what I tell myself (insert laugh-crying emoji)!
On a scale of 1-10 (1 being hive inducing and 10 being totally cool with it!) how do you feel about doing messy projects with the kids? I probably sit somewhere around 7, but definitely have to muster up the energy and patience before starting.
Happy play dough making… or avoiding… mamas!
xo, Rae
Can’t wait to try! I’m trying to be better about the “messy fun” stuff and I need to gear up too! I usually hate play dough because of the smell haha, so this looks great, thank you for sharing! Love the cute pics!
I’m a 10. I am known for the nursery workers at my church frequently finding paint somewhere on my 2year old that I missed or could not get scrubbed off!