Play Dough

Soft as Cloud Play Dough

(my experience)

I have always wanted to make a play dough recipe that I had seen on the internet.  The name alone ( soft as cloud ) sounded  like a heavenly soft play dough that would squish so perfectly in my hand.  I was waiting for a good excuse to make this enticing stuff.  My daughter and her 3 young boys ages 2,4, and 6, were visiting for a few days during spring break.  It is spring here in Idaho and we were planning on doing some activities outside.  Well, we have had some typical Idaho spring weather lately, wind, some sun, some snow, some rain, more snow...

We woke up to wind and snow one morning.  I thought this would be the perfect time to try out the perfect play dough recipe that I had seen posted on Face Book.  It only called for 2 ingredients, corn starch and hair conditioner and what was even better, you didn't have to cook it.  Little boys are very busy and they love clay.  To keep them busy longer, I decided to let them make their own, since it didn't need cooking.

I gave them each their own mixing bowl and we measured the cornstarch and conditioner in the bowl.  They had a great time mixing it.  I was very curious to see how the clay would turn out because I've done the cornstarch and water experiments and it has never been a play dough type texture.  I thought maybe the conditioner ingredient would make a magical difference.

It didn't take long to make and wasn't too surprised to find the texture wasn't like a play dough.  It looked like the pictures you see on the website but the consistency wasn't very pliable.  The kids could play with it, but just like cornstarch and water, when you made something, it wouldn't hold its shape.  It was crumbly and a little stiff.  I double checked the recipe to make sure that they didn't cook it.  The  whole time I was thinking to myself "Nailed It" just like the many ideas you see on Pinterest etc. that you try and fail.

I have a another play dough recipe that you cook and it is made with flour.  I use cornstarch when making gravy and pie filling and when it is cooked it has more of a jelly type texture.  We didn't have anything to lose and so I decided to conduct and experiment with them and try cooking the clay.  Here is what we did:

This is the original recipe without cooking.  Make it first so that you can see for yourself if you like it or not.  Then follow the steps I show to cook it.

Ingredients:

2-Parts Corn Starch ( I used 2 Cups)
1-Part Conditioner ( I used the cheapest hair conditioner I could find )
Food Coloring

Mix together in bowl.

I put the finished play dough in a sauce pan and added water to it.  You can add quite a bit of water because you need enough to break down the cornstarch.  I turned the stove burner on to high heat.  I'm always in a hurry and I figured we aren't going to eat it any way (supposedly).

  I stirred constantly over the high heat until it started to gather into a ball.  This only took a few minutes.  Remove from heat let cool.

 

After it has cooled enough to handle, begin kneading the dough as you would bread.  Notice how lumpy the play dough looks at first.  Don't worry, because the kneading will combine the ingredients well and you will have a nice, smooth, soft as cloud,  play dough. 

I was pleased to see that our experiment was a success.  The play dough was very smooth and not crumbly.  It had more elasticity and held its shape like play dough should.

If the play dough gets too dry, knead in some conditioner.  If it gets too sticky, knead in more corn starch.

Have Fun!

THIS IS MY REALITY!

As usual, things are never like in the pictures (nice clean kids and work area).

 But....

Corn Starch---$1.00

Hair Conditioner---$1.59

Time with grand kids, successful learning experiment, and hours of QUIET play time,

PRICELESS!