The Kindies here in Wellington have an assortment of play doughs that kids merrily cut and shape into different shapes and get into pretend play. Very engaging stuff. A friend said that you can actually make some at home too! So I did a little research and tried my hand on some!

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour (NOT the self-rising variety)
1 cup warm water
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp oil (regular cooking oil will do)
1/4 cup salt
2 tsp food coloring



Procedure:
In a bowl, mix all the wet ingredients together (water, oil, food coloring)
In another bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together (flour, salt)
You might notice that I did not mention the tartar. That's because I did not buy it... at NZD5.00 it's quite expensive for me. :-) The cream of tartar is said to make the dough more elastic.
Now, pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix it all up. Place into a pot and put on medium heat.

At first, the mixture will be creamy and smooth, like below:
But it will progressively become difficult to mix. Keep on mixing because the dough will burn if left alone. When you lift some of the dough and it stands on its own (I guess around 10 minutes over the flame will do), remove from fire and let it cool a bit.
Knead the dough with your hands until it's firm and has a soft clay-like consistency.
Have fun!
PS Unfortunately, on the second day, the dough became sticky and no amount of flour added can make it lose moisture (which I think makes it sticky). So we stopped play dough production for a while because Jo-Lo's birthday has come up!

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