DIY Play Dough

Often times, the only two classifications given are “working mother” and “stay-at-home mom” but what about those of us who watch our own kids for part of the time (or a whole 8-hour day) and then proceed to work in the afternoons or evenings or whenever we get a chance to for a few hours to another 4-8 hours? What if you do both?

As a working mother I feel pressure to do my job well and prepare. This involves knowing my lesson schedule, having books on hand for when students need new ones, and knowing what piece they’re working on so I know what to teach or have an idea of what to teach for the day. As a stay-at-home mom, I feel pressure to take my daughter out on play dates to socialize her as well as let her see the world and explore.

Because of this conundrum, I often find myself at a catch-22. If I choose to practice piano for 1-2 hours during her nap, I don’t get much else done during the day before I switch gears and teach for a few hours.  If I don’t practice during her nap, I can prep dinner, clean the house, do laundry, or even take a nap myself, but sometimes I’m left winging it and thinking fast during my lessons. If I take her out on a play date, which I both should and want to, she won’t get a good nap in unless our play date, including the drive, is not more than 2.5 hours and she can return home to nap at the proper time. 

So instead, much of my life looks like fast thinking, crying toddler fighting naps, being overtired and stressed out, and eating frozen corn dogs (or frozen something) for dinner more than occasionally. 

But sometimes, I feel like I actually have my life together and can do a multitude of things. Hence why we made play dough today. 

While cleaning out her toy bin, I found an unopened package of model magic from our trip to Crayola a few months ago. I hadn’t opened it yet because I wasn’t sure if she was ready to play with something moldable and not put it in her mouth. The model magic reminded me of play dough, so during her breakfast, I looked up a quick recipe for homemade play dough. It involved some ingredients I didn’t have on hand at home, but nothing a quick trip to the neighborhood store wouldn’t solve. 

So after breakfast, I loaded her up, and we went to the store to pick up the remaining ingredients I didn’t have. Being that I was only going to pick up two things, I decided to simply use my stroller instead of putting her in a shopping cart and just hold what I needed. Well, I ended up with seven items in my arms totaling just over 13 pounds. Actually, I take that back. I ended up with five of the items in my arms, and I gave my daughter two to be entertained. Don’t worry, I still held over 13 pounds with five items. Ask me if you’re curious. 

We left the store and returned home where I commenced to make play dough while she played in the living room. She was doing fine and I was at the final steps when she started crawling away. I wasn’t in the mood to shut the door and have her start a tantrum on me so I picked her up and put her in her high chair to watch me finish making play dough. (yes, she does that now. If you hinder her idea even before she gets to proceed with the idea, ie: shutting a door she wants to go through even though, she’s three feet away, she will start to cry and it does get annoying). 

I finished making the play dough and it actually turned out pretty well. I gave her a little ball to play with and practiced my dough kneading skills on the remaining ball. She wasn’t very interested to be honest. She touched it a few times and tried eating a small piece stuck to her finger, but that was about it. After a short lived time with the play dough that clearly wasn’t entertaining her like it was entertaining me, I put it away.

Compared to store bought play dough, I like the homemade version because:

• It’s soft and has the texture of real play dough
• I know what’s in it so if my daughter does try eating it or gets it in her mouth, I know she’s not eating chemicals. 

But, at the same time, I also don’t like the homemade version because:

• It’s greasier than the store bought ones. Not in a gross, runny way, but we played on a glass table and I had to wipe it after. To be fair I haven’t played with real play dough in many many years so maybe it has the same issue. 
• It’s got a starch/dough smell. I realize that the kind you buy also has a strong smell and I remember disliking it as a child, but I think having played with it for many years, I got used to it. 

When I get some more time or feel like it again, I’ll probably make another batch and maybe add some tweaks to experiment myself. If you’re interested, this is the recipe I used. It makes about 2 cups worth of play dough.

Airtight storage for my play dough. Next challenge: see how long it stays soft.

In short, it’s simply flour, water, salt, oil, cream of tartar, and food coloring.

Maybe my husband will be just as entertained with this as I was, even for a little bit. And now my daughter is awake, and I practiced piano for an hour before writing this blog, so I will now get ready to feed her, feed myself some leftovers or something frozen, and then teach for 2.5 hours nonstop this evening.

That's a normal day for us. :)