gingerbread play-dough

My kids love play-dough!  And since we are reading books and doing learning activities with gingerbread people (more about that soon), we made some gingerbread play-dough! 

It is so easy to make.  Littlest Man helped me put the ingredients into the pan.  I handled the food dye, cooking, and kneading of the dough.  It is super easy and quick.

Gingerbread play-dough

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups of flour
• 1/4 cup of salt
• 2 TBSP cream of tartar
• seasonings such as cinnamon, ginger, and ground cloves (these were what I had in my pantry)
• 1 cup of water
• 1 TBSP oil
• a few drops of food coloring (I used the brown from my cake decorating kit)

Put flour, salt, and cream of tartar into a pan.  Mix in seasonings.  (I did not measure these but if I had to guess I probably put in about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, 1/4 tsp of ginger, and 1 tsp + of ground cloves.  I just kind of smelled it to see if it smelled about right.  Sorry for the lack of exact measurements.  That usually drives me crazy when I want exact numbers. {smile}) 

In a separate bowl, mix the water, oil, and food coloring.  Add to the pan of dry ingredients.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture stiffens and forms a ball.  Spoon onto a lightly floured surface and knead 1-2 minutes.  (It’s quite warm so be careful.)  Store in an air-tight container so your play-dough won’t dry out.

There you go!  Easy, easy.  And fun!