Homemade Holiday Scented Play Dough For The Little Ones In Your Life

I love playing with play dough. I have always been one of those artsy types of people; as a child, anything that my mom would suggest, that had to do with crafting, I was on board. Now, as a mom myself, I am always turning to the arts and crafts on those rainy days, and pretty much every day in between! One of Syfy's favorite things to do is play with play dough! What kid (or adult for that matter) doesn't like to mold and sculpt their every whim into playdough? 

Fantastic DIY gifts for any child in your life

Every holiday season I like to homemake at least one item to each of my family members, my kiddo included! This is one of those gifts that I can give every year and he still gets excited over! I have also given sets of this holiday scented play dough to all of my nieces, nephews, and best friend's kiddos and every single one of them have thoroughly enjoyed many hours of play dough joy! You can make this in big batches, split it up between all the kiddos you're making gifts for, and make it in their favorite “flavors”!

Studies show that sensory play can enhance learning

There is a lot of talk of sensory play and how it can enhance the learning experience for the young child when you play to more than one of your child's senses at a time (like smell and touch). By adding scent to the play dough, you are giving the child an extra brain workout! I am more inclined to believe that the workout is more for the parent trying to keep the kid from eating these delicious smelling handmade toys. (Nearly every time Silas and I have played with the play dough, he has tried to eat the “Hot Cocoa Brown” one. I can't seem to keep him from wanting to try just one more time, in hopes that this time, it might actually taste like the Tootsie Roll that it looks like!)

Homemade Holiday Scented Play Dough

MAKES 2 CUPS PLAY DOUGH

BASIC PLAY DOUGH INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 cup filtered water or cooled tea (for flavors)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil
• Food coloring
• essential oils, flavor extracts, and/or spices (if using)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium saucepan, mix together all of your ingredients except scents, ground herbs, and colors
2. Heat mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly while it heats up. It will eventually start getting lumpy and then a minute or two more of stirring will produce a ball of dough.
3. Once you are sure that your dough is cooked enough, let the dough cool, mix in color/scents/powdered herbs and then play away!
4. Store in a sealed container when not in use and this dough will last for ages!

COLOR/SCENT COMBINATIONS

ORANGE & SPICE

• Tea: Orange Tea
• Essential Oil: 20 drops Sweet Orange essential oil
• Spices: 2 tsp. ground Cloves

RED APPLE CIDER

• Tea: Apple Cinnamon Tea
• Flavor extract: red apple flavor extract
• Spices: 2 tsp. ground cinnamon

HOT COCOA BROWN

• Tea: none
• Essential Oil: 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Spices: 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp. unrefined coconut oil (to compensate for the chocolate powder)

LEMON YELLOW

• Tea: Lemon Tea
• Essential Oil: 20 drops Lemon essential oil
• Spices: none

HONEY VANILLA BLUE

• Tea: Chamomile Tea
• Essential Oil: 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Spices: none

PEPPERMINT STICK PINK

• Tea: Peppermint Tea
• Essential Oil: none
• Spices: ground peppermint leaf

CALM LAVENDER PURPLE

• Tea: Lavender and chamomile tea
• Essential Oil: 10 drops Lavender essential oil
• Spices: none

GREEN GINGER

• Tea: Ginger tea
• Essential Oil: none
• Spices: 1 tsp. ground ginger root, 1 tsp. ground cinnamon