Monday, December 27, 2010

Mommy & Me Monday: Gingerbread Playdough

Hello, everyone! (Or "Hello, to the two or three people who might actually be reading this!"----Just kidding!) Hope you all had a blessed holiday with your family. Today's idea is still a bit Christmasy, but would be a great way to keep your kiddos entertained. As a literary tie-in to this project, consider reading some "gingerbread" books with your child. One of my favorites is Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett.

I love to make scented and special playdough for my Montessori classroom. During the last week of school before break, I put out gingerbread playdough which was very popular. I posted about homemade playdough in September, but here is the basic recipe again.

Homemade playdough:

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/2 cup salt
1 T. vegetable oil
1 T. granulated alum OR cream of tartar
Food coloring and add-ins as desired

Stir all ingredients together in a saucepan. Once combined, cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. You will continue to stir until the mixture gets really thick and dries out somewhat. If there are still "wet spots", keep stirring until those are mostly gone. Turn playdough out of pan and allow it to cool slightly. When it is cool enough to handle, knead the dough until it becomes smooth. If it is too sticky you can add in some more flour at this point. Once completely cooled, playdough can be stored in an airtight container and kept for several weeks.

To make the gingerbread playdough I made the basic recipe and added in quite a bit of ground cinnamon, ground cloves, and allspice. I don't measure, I just dump a bunch in and stir it up until I feel it is fragrant enough. For those of you who like things more specific, try adding a teaspoon of each to begin.

Below you can see how I set this up in my clasroom. I added a rolling pin, gingerbread cookie cutter, placemat and a little bowl of pony beads to use as decorations.

Here is a photo of a gingerbread man made by one of my students. This dough smells SO good, your children won't want to stop playing with it. You will probably be compelled to join in the fun as well!


1 comment:

Krystal said...

This looks like so much fun and I can just imagine how good it smells :)