For The Tots: Edible Playdough!

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, Curls is still at that stage where everything goes into his mouth.  Crayons, markers, paints, anything that one might use to create and explore is seen as something worth mouthing.  So as a parent, I'm always thinking of art 'recipes' that are safe for Curls to use in case he feels the need to eat it.

Recently, my older two were using some store bought play dough to sculpt their own dinosaur creations when I suddenly realized that Curls had never played with play dough.  What a travesty!  So I decided to quickly throw together a toddler-safe dough and  fix this horrible wrong...of course, it had to be edible.

I looked in my cupboard and decided on a simple oatmeal and flour dough that would take literally seconds on the my mixer.  Four ingredients and about two minutes is all it took to make a great edible dough that Curls loved playing with immediately!

Edible Play dough: (makes one good sized ball)

 

1 cup oats (it doesn't matter if it's old fashioned or quick)

2/3 cup flour

1/2 cup water

few drops of food coloring (optional)

First you blend the flour and oats with the water.

Add a few drops of coloring if you wish, and mix it all together.

It's as simple as that!  When I first gave Curls his play dough, he certainly seemed excited, and started playing with it right away, an adorable grin on his face the whole time.

Curls immediately grabbed the dough

and started digging his fingers into it.

The oats gives the dough a thick, grainy consistency that provides for some real tactile exploration.  Curls found it fun to pinch handfuls of dough and squeeze them in his hands for a while before I handed him any tools to use. 

He was happy to use the tools too!

Most surprising to me about the whole experience is that Curls was so interested in playing with the dough that he never once put it in his mouth!  Not sure I would depend on that happening with regular play dough though, so I'm going to stick with this edible stuff for a while just in case.