dandelion playdough recipe

The most amazing news …. you may want to sit down ….  my son grew out of his gluten allergy!!  Not only can he eat my homemade bread, but he can also (more importantly) do sensory play with flour now!!  I am beyond thrilled.  He used to react to even the touch of flour, so this is an incredible milestone for our family.  And (of course), I — though tentatively — had to make some playdough!!

After we discovered the my son is no longer allergic to gluten (!), I have been excited to dive into more play dough play.  Gluten-free flour is expensive — but the great news is that now I can buy a 10 pound bag of flour for under $6!  I am a really happy mama.

We made a nature-inspired playdough this week — dandelion playdough!  I love bringing sensory play outside, so this was perfect.

First, we collected dandelions before my husband was going to mow them all down (gasp!)  Then, we headed inside to make the playdough.  I made my mom’s world-famous recipe from when I was a kid — listed below — (from an old activity book she gave me from, like, 1980 that called for alum, but cream of tartar works fine as a substitute).

All we had to do to add the dandelions was pinch them out of their little buds — we added at least 10 flowers to the mix.  This didn’t effect the creamy, pliable, squishy, perfect!!  Can I say that it was delicious?! — I was working with gluten-free flours before — see my post on how not to make gluten-free play dough to see how difficult this can be!

After the playdough cooled (our dandelion playdough recipe below literally only takes about five minutes to make — much more cost effective than buying pre-made playdough!), we brought it outside and I set it out with dandelions on a bedsheet in our backyard.

I gave John and May each a ball and showed them that the yellow can come off onto the playdough!  They loved this and began working.

I went around the yard and gathered sticks.  May was very excited about the sticks :)

She loves feeling the playdough with her hands and tearing it apart over and over again.

I made a dandelion man, which later my husband said was “creepy,” but I thought he was cute.  Adults can play with playdough too :)

Dandelion Playdough Recipe:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1 tablespoon cream of tarter
• 1 cup water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 5-10 dandelion flowers with petals pulled out

Instructions:

1. Add ingredients into a big pot on medium heat.
2. Stir constantly until the playdough becomes a big ball and does not stick to the sides of the pot.
3. Place on a plate and flatten out to cool.
4. You could add a scent (or color) to this playdough during the “stirring” process, I chose not to for this go-around to keep the focus on the beautiful yellow flowers.

Enjoy!

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How do you use playdough at home?  What learning activities do you include?