Pinterest Find | Homemade Play Dough

Every now & again I go on a pinning spree over on Pinterest. I mostly search through it all to pick out some interesting recipes to try & inspiration for various crafts. The other day I stumbled across this recipe for play dough & why play dough is beneficial activity & I just knew I had to try it out. 

The very first things I looked forward to when I learned I was pregnant was being able to buy & play with play dough in the near future without feeling like a strange 24-year-old playing with children's toys by herself. The closer he's gotten to the recommended minimum age, the more excited I've gotten (he still likes to put things in his mouth, & I wouldn't feel comfortable with him eating the name-brand stuff). Naturally, when I found this recipe compiled of pantry ingredients & Jell-o, I jumped all over it!

We had everything except the Jell-o on hand already, & you probably do to!

Cyrus absolutely loved being right along side, helping me the entire time (even during clean up!). He held all the measuring utensils while I poured the ingredients in them, & then dumped them into the pot when I let him know it was okay to. He was so eager to start mixing it all up.

After we were able to mix almost all of the floury dry lumps away, I put the pot on the stove & took over mixing while he watched from a safe distance away. It was slow going, even for my stove, but eventually...

...it all came together beautifully!

After about half an hour of cooling, the moment I'd been waiting for since Cyrus was conceived had finally arrived.

Cyrus loved the play dough a lot more than he did the air-dry clay from last week. Probably because this was a lot more pliable & soft compared to the clay. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience as well, especially the smell! This stuff smells very similar to the store-bought kind (at least from what I remember), plus there was a nice hint of grape from the the Jell-o! Another great part about this recipe was the cost. We only used one box of Jell-o, even though I had bought 4 & thoroughly intended to make it all today; there was just no need to because of how much one batch makes! What you see Cyrus playing with in his chair is only a fraction of what this recipe makes. 

Do you have any favorite homemade recipes for playtime?