Homemade Jello Playdough

In preparation for my Summer Sensory Fun series (beginning on Monday!  So excited!!!), I've been letting my preschool teacher self back out and have been having a blast remembering some of the fun activities I used to do with my students.  I can't wait to share some of them with you!  I actually ended up with more activities than I had planned for the week, so I thought I'd slip this one in ahead of time.  Any preschool teacher can tell you that there are more playdough recipes out there than you can shake a toddler at.  It takes a lot of playing around (and a lot of cream of tartar!) to experiment with recipes to find one that you really like.

Here's one of my favorites.

The great thing about making your own playdough is that you know exactly what's in it.  That way, if your little one feels inclined to sample it (still not to be encouraged) you don't have to worry as much as you would about purchased playdough.

Which is good, because my curly girl is still in the stage where she thinks everything is meant to be eaten (and yes, she was my model for this, but I wouldn't really recommend handing this to 8 month olds.  This is more of a toddler/preschool+ activity).  Nonetheless, Kayleigh absolutely loved being part of this!

Here is how you can make your own Jello playdough:

You will need:
♥ 1 cup flour
♥ 2 tbsp salt
♥ 2 tbsp cream of tartar
♥ 2 tbsp vegetable oil
♥ 1 cup warm water
♥ 1  3oz pack of Jello

Put all of your dry ingredients in a bowl.

Add the warm water and oil and stir until it's well mixed.  It's ok if it's a little lumpy--it will cook out to a smooth consistency.

Spoon into a saucepan and stir...and stir...

...until the mixture balls up like this.

Dump the ball onto a sheet of wax paper and leave it alone until it cools.

Otherwise, your hands will look like this:

Be patient and let it cool, and then you'll have this wonderfully soft, amazing smelling playdough for your little ones.

They will love it!!!  It's just the perfect texture for little hands.  Not dry and stiff like some playdoughs turn out, but perfectly smooth and malleable without being sticky and gooey.

Plus, it smells good enough to eat.

(But it should only take one try and then they won't do that again!)

I love slipping back into my teacher fun with Kayleigh.  

It's so much fun to share these things with her!

Let me know if you give this a try :)