Making Playdough and Outside Chalk Games

As a stay at home mom, I am always looking for activities to do with the kids.  My kids wake up at 5 am and go to sleep around 7 pm.  This is a long day.  We have made homemade playdough in the past, but this by far is my favorite recipe I have used.  First of all the cooked playdough recipes are far better than the non-cooked recipes.  Here is the best one I have landed on:

Homemade Playdough
2 cup flour
1/2 cup of salt
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 cups of warm water
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
food coloring
scented oil (optional)

Put all ingredients in a pot and cook over low heat until it comes together as a smooth ball. If you want you can add some peppermint oil or lemon oil.  Who doesn't like nice smelling things, but you don't have to.  Take it off the heat and take playdough out of pot and let it cool on your counter.  Once cool enough to handle, kneed until smooth.  Cut into four equal parts.  Now the fun part.  Use food coloring to dye each section.  The kids love doing this part.  When storing, I place plastic wrap around each ball and then put each ball into a sealed plastic baggie.  Then I put all the baggies in a Ziplock plastic container.  I  know it seems like a lot of protection for some playdough.  But you can keep this for a long time if you keep it airtight.


Outside Chalk Game

We had a lot of fun with this direction following game. And what kid doesn't need to practice following directions.  Get four or five different colors of chalk.  Make a start box and a finish box across from each other. For example start with blue.  Make a blue circle (big enough for  kids to jump into) jumping distance from start box.  Then continue making a circle path to finish box.  Then do the same with the next color.  Keep trying to intermingle the colors so it is fun for the kids to jump.  Always make sure each color path has a safe jumping distance to the next circle of its color.  Lastly, you sit back and start to call out directions for the kids to follow.  You can make them follow each color path or you can mix up the colors like Twister. Have fun outside.