Scented Playdough

For years, I wanted to make playdough for my class of kindergarteners, but just never got around to it. I thought it would be fun for Kyla to have an activity to do after naptime. So, I searched for recipes and found one for scented playdough on Cooks.com. I've heard that you can do this with Kool-aid powder, but this recipe calls for lemon extract. It smells awesome! I added yellow food coloring to match its lemony scent.

Scented Playdough

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1 cup water

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 tablespoon oil

few drops food coloring

1 teaspoon lemon extract

Mix all ingredients together in a pot and cook gently over medium heat until it forms a ball. Let cool. Store in airtight container.

When I first put the playdough out, Kyla got really excited. I told her it smelled like lemon, so she put it up to her nose to smell it. She said that she really liked it. After we made some animals using cookie cutters, she said, "I love it!" She was definitely having a good time.

In the couple times we've done this, we've made lots of animals, including this hen sitting with her eggs.

Her favorite thing though has been this bed I made for her teddy bears to sleep in.

To keep the playdough soft, it needs to be kept in an airtight container. I received some glass Pyrex containers from my in-laws at Christmas, so this 1-quart size bowl was perfect! The recipe makes a good size ball of dough, so we just use half of it at a time. 

Making this lemon-scented playdough has got me thinking about other ones I could do...green mint, red cherry, brown maple, purple grape, etc. I don't have a ton of extracts, but I do have a few. Wouldn't this be so much fun?