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Luck of the Irish: St. Patrick's Day Play Dough

By Michelle Melnik; Macaroni Kid Deerfield/Greenfield March 11, 2014
We made green, black, and gold play dough, added a rainbow ribbon, and we are all set for St. Patrick's Day.

Ingredients:
  • 2 Cups of Flour
  • 2 Cups of Water
  • 1 Cup of Salt
  • 2 T of Vegetable Oil
  • 1 T of Cream of Tarter
  • Food Coloring
  • Glitter (optional)
Directions:
  1. Since I was making multiple colors, I cut the above recipe in half and did each color in separate batches. Add all of the above ingredients (except the glitter) and stir continuously over warm heat. I also added the food coloring at this point. You can add the food coloring after, but it's less messy doing it while it's heating up, and since we make play dough all the time, we have a small pot that is specifically for this use. If you add the food coloring outside of the pot, please use gloves, or use sandwich bags on your hands and attach rubber bands on your wrist to keep the sandwich bags in place because it can get messy.
  2. Continue stirring until it begins to form a ball (it will only take 3-4 minutes). I do not leave it on the stove much past this point. It may still feel wet, but after kneading, the dough will be fine. Pour it onto a sheet of parchment paper being careful, as it may be hot. 
  3. For the green play dough, we added a lot of green food coloring. The "gold" was made using only yellow food coloring, but again, a lot of it. We used black food coloring for the black pot.  Black food coloring can usually be found at craft stores and sometimes at Wal-Mart.