Playdough fun

I've been making play dough for 35 years- since the days of playgroups in halls and not coffee shops.  The old method of cook and stir in the pot saw a few browned or crunchy balls of dough when despite the best intentions I got distracted.

Imagine my delight when I discovered it was possible to make play dough in next to no time in the Thermomix.

Since getting the Thermo I've tried a couple of different recipes and heeded the advice of some to add a little extra flour as recipes developed in WA are a little wetter in the Eastern states due to humidity.

Despite the ease of the Thermomix most variations in the final product have been from me getting carried away multi tasking. It's a pretty forgiving output. A little bit of extra kneading seems to overcome most issues or more flour if too sticky.  It keeps well in a plastic slider bag in the fridge and even a couple of hours left out on the play table isn't a problem as the oil rehydrates the dough for use another day. It's ready for use week after week.

This is a cheap and easy standby for any grandparent, aunt, uncle, parent. Just add cookie cutters, plastic cutlery, kitchen utensils, cars, blocks, lids or what ever makes a dint, shape etc. You are limited only by your imagination and the  "kiddies "of all ages may come up with zillions of  different variations of plasticine shapes and models.

The Thermomix Playdough from the EDC is not included in the TM5 BCB so here it is my version:

250g water
100 g of cooking salt (milled slightly)
1 Tb Cream of Tartar
250 g Plain Flour
20g cooking oil eg canola or vegetable
food colouring

Place water, salt, cream of tartar and a strong amount of colouring into mixing bowl. Heat for 5 minutes at 60degrees on Speed 3 - check that salt is dissolved.
Add flour and oil to bowl and mix on speed 4 for 40- 60 seconds until well combined and coloured. Knead in extra flour if too sticky.
Store in a zip lock bag.  

78 cents a batch - WHAT A BARGAIN

 COST: One batch of Playdough will cost approx 78c, provides hours of fun and lasts for weeks.

This playdough could have been more vibrant. Add heaps of colouring.

A few tips and tricks for playdough:

• To avoid having coloured hands- mix the colour in with the water in the beginning step.  Add lots of colour drops to make a strong colour.
• Make a second batch if you want a second colour. ( Be warned it is not easy to keep different colours from mixing together )
• For one child use half a ball of dough at a time unless you are "playing" too. Send the other half home with mum!!!
• Add glitter  or sand for a fun effect.
• Mix it up -sausage people one time, cookie cutters another, cooking games like making pizzas the next time.
• Have a range of  shapes, cutters, rollers, scissors etc. Bottle tops, pasta, patty papers and any other craft materials will extend the fun and stimulate the child's development, speech, creativity and motor skills

Ariah makes animals, food and biscuits when she gets the playdough out each week.

A few years ago I once used Rock salt instead of cooking salt and didn't dissolve it enough  It looked like I was hiding some drugs in the playdough. That was an interesting batch!

What's your favourite playdough activity?

Open wide come inside it's.....

Little Ariah comes to ours  once a week. She's getting used to the routine. Nanny's chocolate milkshakes, Nanny's ipad for ABC for kids and a spot of cooking. Funny, she reacts to the sound of the Thermo and comes running for a "milkshake Nanny". She's her mother's daughter- Superkylz used to always come running at the sound of mixer beaters.

Superkylz used to always come running at the sound of mixer beaters

 

This week The Thermo Nanny created the ultimate Play School experience- cooking, painting,counting,craft and singing.

A great standby for snack making is a $10 electric donut maker which really makes little bite sized cakes. It's a sandwich maker style cake/donut maker. Just blitz up the cake ingredients in the Thermo for 10 seconds, cook and ice. Sometimes they are eaten so quickly off the production line they only get a dunking in sugar and cinnamon.

Mini Donut Maker Recipe

1 1/2 cup plain flour
1/2  cup caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
125 g butter softened
1 egg
3/4 cup milk 

Method

Mix together speed 5 until smooth (about 10 seconds)

After making the donut cake mix we used my second bowl to make the icing (milled sugar, chocolate powder and water heated for one minute). We mixed and cooked and painted the icing on.

Small quantities of the chocolate icing were poured into a small cup and Little Ariah "painted" the cakes with a silicon pastry brush. A small plastic lid was used to measure out the coconut and sprinkles. Great fun.

The cakes were decorated (sometimes over and over) with coconut and sprinkles.

It  keeps up the little one's interest because 6 cakes come off the machine in 3 minutes, another 6 are loaded and by then the first 6 are cool enough to paint on the icing.  Repeat the process. It only makes 24 so all up it is pretty quick.

Then it developed into a real playschool experience.

This activity ticks a lot of boxes

A quick wash of  hands and face led to water play and bubbles. Miss Two had a great time and she's worked out how to put the tap on and off, squeeze out the cloth and wash up!

While plating up we practised the Happy Birthday song for Big Sister India. Little Ariah was delighted to present her sisters India and Keyala with afternoon tea at the school pickup.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY INDIA