Play-Doh is fun for all ages, and I don’t mean just to eat. The trouble is, when you let your kids pull out their stash to create lovely sculptures and/or grind the colorful putty deep into your carpet fibers, you usually discover it’s all dried out and worthless, or else someone has mixed it all together so the only color you have is brown.
But before the kids start whining that their lives are ruined because they don’t have any salty multi-colored clay to play with, never fear - you can make your own! There’s a great recipe for homemade play dough by kristanlynn.com, complete with step-by-step photos featuring an adorable assistant who I’m guessing you don’t get to borrow if you take this project on yourself.
That’s why reader Erin wisely enlisted her own kids to help her out. How did it go?
In Erin’s own words, she tells us what happened.
I intended to have a lovely afternoon making homemade play-dough and memories with my 3 children. I followed the directions on the site but .. obviously .. I failed. It was a hot sticky mess.
Though she had the best intentions, it’s reported that Erin’s children are still crying to this day.
Her carpet, however, continues to look fabulous.
In review:
For more laughs from Robyn, visit her blog at Hollow Tree Ventures!
I sometimes wonder if the submitters of these “failed” crafts are just completely incapable of following directions in the first place and would fail at anything regardless of what they were trying to make.
This is a pretty standard recipe for play dough. I made it as a child with my grandmother and make in now with my 3 small kids and it always comes out just fine.
And play d’oh… You’re so clever. Ha ha ha.
@Courtney – I’ve never tried this one, but I do sometimes laugh at my own inability to do stuff that I would’ve sworn would be super simple. You should’ve seen me trying to squirt pancake batter out of an old ketchup bottle this morning. How hard is that??? I thought it would be a quick, fun activity to do with the kids. Instead, it’s going to be the next CraftFail I write up. ;)
I routinely fail at craft kits from OTC.
I do day care and have made the homemade playdough for years. It’s softer and easier to mold for little ones and lasts long if you store it in a zip lock baggies. I let the children add the coloring to the still warm mess kneading and mixing it in? and sometimes that kneading process is what finishes the dough so it’s perfectly smooth and workable? Maybe you gave up just a bit soon? Besides the kids love to mix the yellow and red to make orange? and decide how bright or light to make it? Messy hands but who cares? food color comes off in a few days….
I just made some play dough this morning and had the same problem. A hot stick mess. Thankfully I have made many a loaf of bread before and I knew what the problem was; a little too much water. Just added a little bit more flour at a time and kneaded it in until it was the right consistent and BAM! we’ve got play dough.