Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Gingerbread Play Dough


I love to make homemade play dough.  This week, I used my favorite play dough recipe and added spices to make it smell like gingerbread.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way this play dough came out; it looks and smells fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the recipe:
1 c. flour
1/2 c. salt
1 T. cooking oil
1 T. cream of tartar
1 c. water
spices (I used ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice - I didn't measure them, just put in some of each.  I used quite a bit because I really wanted it to smell good and I wanted the spices to turn the dough brown too.)
food coloring (I did not use food coloring for this dough; the spices took care of that!  If you want to make the dough darker - more like gingerbread, you could mix red and green food coloring to turn the dough brown.)

I measured the ingredients into a nonstick pot and stirred until well mixed.  Then I cooked it over medium heat until the dough pulled away from the sides and formed a ball.  I dumped it out onto a cutting board and once it was cool enough to touch, I kneaded it until smooth.


I gave C and R gingerbread boy and girl cookie cutters and rolling pins to play with this dough.  I also gave them beads to decorate their gingerbread boys and girls.  On the recommendation of a friend (who happens to be C's Kindergarten teacher from last year) I warm the dough in the microwave before giving it to C and R.  It makes it even more enjoyable!!!!!!!!!!!


Here are two more of our favorite gingerbread books:

The Gingerbread Cowboy by Janet Squires features a cowboy hat and boots wearing gingerbread man in the wild wild west who runs from the rancher, the javelinas, and cattle, but finds himself in trouble when he meets a coyote.

The Library Gingerbread Man by Dotti Enderle is about the Gingerbread Man escaping from his place at 398.2 on the library shelves and leading other literary figures and the librarian on a crazy chase through the library.  I think this book is a cute way to teach kids about the Dewey decimal system.
 

17 comments:

danita said...

so much fun! we did this last year!

Amanda said...

Awesome! I think we will be making some play dough this week! Thanks!

MaryAnne said...

I love the beads idea! And thanks for the microwave tip - I know my kids love the warmth of freshly made play dough, so why not warm it up all the time!

Anonymous said...

Mmmm! I bet that does smell great! Cute decorations too!

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Yes! We love gingerbread play dough, too - not quite as much as actual gingerbread - but it's pretty hight up there on our list.

Debbie said...

I need to get more ambitious like this. What fun!

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

Gingerbread playdoh might be the thing to make, since daughter is very so-so on actual gingerbread cookies. She spent a good hour yesterday making "playdoh babies" - it's interesting to see how her playdoh play gets more purposeful.

Miller Moments said...

Oh fun! I'm definitely making this. I love homemade playdough too!

Brimful Curiosities said...

I can almost smell it in my mind. Thanks for the recipe.

Ticia said...

We just read a gingerbread story this morning.

The kids reenacting it is pretty hilarious.

The warming it up sounds fun.

The Iowa Farmer's Wife said...

Is it weird to say YUM! ha, I can just imagine the smell. A friend made us pumpkin playdo in October, we'll have to try this one this month!!! Love the gingerbread men! :)

Scott said...

Nice idea. A fun holiday alternative play dough.

Jenny said...

More cute books! I love the idea of gingerbread playdough, I'm putting this on our list to do!

Sherri said...

I'm taking notes on all this fun!

Valerie @ Inner Child Fun said...

I'm getting so hungry for gingerbread cookies!! LOL And I love how you drew C's and R's outlines and turned them into cookies -- very cute!!!

Daycare Mommy said...

Hi!! Do you mind if I use your gingerbread playdough recipe adaption and photos in my upcoming newsletter? I will link to you as well! www.fremont.macaronikid.com!

thanks!

Jenny said...

We just made this and Abby loved it! Do you think it will dry if we leave it out? She used cookie cutters and wants to save some. We'll see what happens.