Play dough and Modeling Clay

So it was way too hot and humid to play outside today. When your 5 year old looks at you and says "its hard to breathe outside today mommy," you know you have problems.
So I decided it would be a good day to stay inside, make up some play dough and just have good "clean" indoor fun.


We tried out 4 different recipes and I thought I would share with you what we thought of them and the recipes and links to where we found them.
The first one we tried out was from Pioneer Thinking. It is recipe 1.
I really liked that this one did not require any cooking so it is something that the kids can easily help make, and that it didn't have any ingredients that we may not have in the house at the time. But it has to be stored refriderated which is not nearly as simple as throwing it in a baggie and stuffing it in the box. I also felt that while it was probably the nicest to work with for an adult, it does dry out the quickest.
The next one we tried out was recipe 3 from Pioneer Thinking.
This one was one of the kids favorites to play with, that makes it a winner in my books.
However, the cooking process was a bit harder in my opinion, but maybe I am just a wimp when it comes to stirring things that get so stuff you can't move your arm in a circle. It also needs to have cream of tarter which I don't always have in the house.
We then made up the Kool-aid Play Dough from The Holiday Zone.
This one basically doesn't require cooking other than a cup of boiling water. It smells great and it doesn't stain the hands when you are mixing it in. The kids loved making this one.
The last one we played with today was Perfect Play Dough from The Holiday Zone.
I have to say as far as making it up this was my least favorite. I don't like using the microwave for this sort of thing and it just wasn't much fun. However it was very nice to play with once it was cooled down enough to play with. I also did not like that it called for liquid food coloring. I much prefer to use my wilton cake dyes to color things, it is much less messy and leaves it with less of a sticky feeling.
All in all we had a good time, but I can say that I am not a fan of the salt feeling it leaves on my hands~!
Here are a few of the creations.
The girls each made kitty cats and Mama made a flower and then Araya had to try that out as well.





Glad we found an activity we could all enjoy and not be so terribly hot doing!