Gluten-free play dough for my boy

Our sweet boy is allergic to gluten. So, thankfully, when I pulled out some of my old Play-Doh, an alarm went off in my head before I gave any to him! I looked the ingredients up, and sure enough, the main ingredient is wheat. John’s skin is so sensitive that, upon contact, he flares up and his little hands and arms turn red, become inflamed, and immediately begin to have raised, white bumps all over. This is very itchy and uncomfortable for him, but also scary for his mama, too. Thankfully, we have his allergy documented with an allergist and we are armed with Children’s Benadryl and a Junior Epipen, if it is ever needed.

But, alas, I don’t want my boy to miss out on the joys of Play Dough! So I went searching for the perfect gluten-free recipe. I have only tried this one, found off the Parents website, but its consistency is so similar to Play-Doh, that I don’t think I’ll need to try another recipe!

First, I mixed the following ingredients together (dry first, then adding the water/oil mix):

• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Then, pour the ingredients into 4 smaller bowls. Add food coloring, as desired. (I chose the classics of red, blue, yellow, and green.)

Next, pour the contents of one bowl into a small pan. Cook and stir on low heat for 3 minutes or until it forms a ball. Use a spatula to get it neatly onto a plate to cool. Cool completely before storing in a sealable plastic bag.

Repeat for subsequent colors. (I washed the same pan over and over, so not to dirty four different ones!)

Play.

Don’t let them eat the play dough.

Note: Younger than two may be a little too young. But, hopefully it will keep for a while! I sealed the play dough in plastic bags and put it in a plastic container.

We did discover a new game: John has been learning his three primary colors: red, yellow, and blue, so I made tissue paper circles covered in contact paper and he is learning to put little balls of the play dough on the appropriate color circles. He almost has those three colors down! Next, we’ll learn green, orange, and purple!