Fragrances like Natures Garden’s Reindeer Poo make really amazing scented childrens play dough!
This weekend was a chilly one. Snow fell in many areas, and although ours did not stick, we did not go unnoticed. With the weather not really cooperating, my girls and I were trapped in the house all weekend long. Not fun!
Needless to say, we were already feeling the walls closing in. We needed something entertaining to do. Off to google I went to see if there were any projects we could do to pass the time away.
My girls are huge fans of creative things. They love to color, draw, build castles with their building blocks, and play with craft dough. So, at least I knew if I could find something that was hands on, we were in there. I knew that my mom had made craft dough with the girls before and they had a blast. I only needed to find a recipe.
After quite a few links, I stumbled upon a great recipe of unscented play dough. Could this play dough be scented? Yes it can!
This craft dough is pretty basic and can be colored and scented to extend the wow factor. My girls selected all the fun Christmas scents, and I double checked to make sure that all of the fragrances were body safe. I also let them choose the colors for the craft dough.
Here are the supplies that are needed:
8 cups flour- I used the All-purpose kind
8 cups warm water
4 cup salt- the regular table kind
1 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup Cream of Tartar
Latex gloves
5 Glass plates
5 gallon sized Ziploc bags
5 Pipettes
Natures Garden Soap Dyes: Red,
Blue, Yellow, Green
Natures Garden Cotton Headed Ninny Muggin Fragrance oil
Natures Garden Jack Frost Fragrance oil
Natures Garden Snowman Balls Fragrance oil
Natures Garden Mrs. Claus Cookies Fragrance oil
Natures Garden Reindeer Poo Fragrance oil
This recipe is for a really large batch, but I wanted to make sure that both girls had a nice amount of craft dough to play with.
First: In a large saucepan, mix the flour, salt, cream of tartar, water, and vegetable oil together. Stir. Place the saucepan on the stovetop and cook over low heat. Stir occasionally. You are looking for when the craft dough starts to look like mashed potatoes. The key to when it is finished is when the dough clumps together and you can pull it from the sides of the saucepan. You do not want the dough to be sticky though. Keep the low heat on until the dough appears dry. You are seeking the same texture as store
bought craft dough.
Second: Remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside. You want the craft dough to cool naturally. It is done when you can touch the dough and it is cool. While the dough is cooling, wipe down your counter space with warm soapy water. You want to do this now so that the area is dry for the next step.
Third: Carefully, dump all of the craft dough onto your work space. Start to knead. You will knead until the craft dough is smooth. It will almost have a silky feel to it.
Four: Divide it up. Since we are making 5 different scents and colors, you will want to separate the dough as evenly as possible
into 5 large balls. Please note, one of the balls will be uncolored, this will be your cream color.
Five: Once you have all of the balls, using your index finger poke a hole into it. You are going to use this hole for your soap dye coloring. One color designated per ball. I would suggest doing this step one ball at a time.
Six: Put on your latex gloves. Take one glass plate and place a ball on it. Carefully, start to knead the ball on the plate. Keep
kneading until the color is consistent throughout the entire dough portion. If you need to go bolder on the color, just recreate the ball and hole and start over again. The tip here is do not be afraid to knead your heart out in this step. Repeat this step for each color until you have all colors completed.
Seven: Once you are happy with your new bright and beautiful dough colors, stick each one individually in a gallon Ziploc bag. It
is time to get your scent on in the next step.
Pause- Here is our scent to color break down we used:
RED- Cotton Headed Ninny Muggin Fragrance oil
BLUE- Jack Frost Fragrance oil
CREAM (uncolored)- Snowman Balls Fragrance oil
GREEN- Mrs. Claus Cookies Fragrance oil
YELLOW-Reindeer Poo Fragrance oil
Eight: Using one pipette per dough bag, drip 2ml of the fragrance into the Ziploc bag and sealshut. Knead again, but do it in the
Ziploc bag until all of the fragrance is absorbed. Repeat for the remaining 4 dough bags.
Nine: Get crafty and have some fun! When you are finished, store left over craft dough in Ziploc bags.
This was really a ton of fun to do. My girls had a blast making it and playing with it. This is something that is fun, easy, and way cheaper than the store bought.
Caution: Because the craft dough is scented with fragrance oil, make sure that any surface that is used with making or playing
with it is safe for fragrance. Fragrance can ruin wood stained areas. Scented play dough contains fragrance; do not allow children to eat the play dough!
Fragrance & Fun For Everyone!
Nicole (Manager at Natures Garden)
www.naturesgardencandles.com
