pink grapefruit play dough

In honor of Valentine's Day (which is only 11 days away!), we decided to whip up some pink, sparkly play dough!  We used a recipe from The Imagination Tree...

4 Minute Play Dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups boiling water

First, mix the dry ingredients together.  Then, add the wet ingredients.  Anna, from The Imagination Tree, suggests adding the hot water in increments until the play dough seems to be the right consistency.  She also says that vigorously kneading the dough is key.

At this point, Elise and I added a few special ingredients:

6 drops red food coloring (actually, I added this to the hot water before mixing it into the dry ingredients)
1/2 teaspoon rainbow glitter
1-2 drops grapefruit essential oil



I'm not much of a glittery, pink kind of person, but from the looks of it, Elise might be...  ;)



Elise played with her new play dough for over an hour - the only reason she stopped was because it was time for lunch!



If you're curious about how we have play dough set up on our art shelf, it basically looks like this.  ^^
Elise is really conscientious about getting out the vinyl mat and setting everything up - she still needs some assistance putting it all back, though...

I asked Elise to "smile," and this is what she gave me - oh, how I love her!  After we added the glitter, I told her she couldn't eat any more because it wouldn't be safe.  She cried for a moment, and then carried on with mixing the ingredients.  I never saw her eat any of the play dough after that.  I worried that adding the essential oil  would tempt Elise into having a taste or two, but I think it actually provided more of a good distraction - instead of nibbling, she was too busy sniffing!

Have a great week, friends!