Comments on: Make Your Own Playdough (73/365)

By: PF

PF — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 20:13:21 +0000

I made this today and it worked out great. I hate hate hate play doh. The smell makes my kids want to eat it and the stuff is made in china. Who knows what’s in it? It dries up in a about 5 minutes and then it’s everywhere.

This homemade version had a nice consistency and my kids liked it better than the real stuff. My daughter got a play doh ice cream factory for her birthday. I almost threw it away yesterday because the only thing it’s been good for is to make is a huge mess. It takes an adult’s strength to do anything with it. I decided to make this recipe as the factory’s last chance. It worked. This playdough works SIGNIFICANTLY better in the factory and now it’s actually a fun toy.

By: Donald

Donald — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 11:19:51 +0000

Simply superb article Trent. Your posts are getting more incisive each day. While we’re on the topic does anyone know a good place to get coupons for flour and the other supplies needed to make playdough?

By: Grace Pamer

Grace Pamer — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:08:00 +0000

This is a genius of a post. So good I wrote a blog post about it and told my readers to come here to check it out! I love how you’ve worked through the process. This will be such a money saver for all moms like me who’s kids insist on both play dough and combining all the colors until they have rainbow central and then get upset because they can’t play with ‘just’ the yellow or ‘just’ the orange! :-)

Great work
Grace

By: Maggie

Maggie — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 21:47:47 +0000

typo – “they” not then.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 21:46:13 +0000

The best thing about homemade Play-Doh is that it doesn’t have that sicky sweet smell that real Play-Doh has.
We used to make this on a wintery Saturday and the kids had fun all day. Especially good on the days when then couldn’t go outdoors.

By: Shauna

Shauna — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 23:43:12 +0000

Wow such hard comments for a article that I really enjoyed. It wasn’t even the though of having play doh for inexpensive, but the idea of inviting my child to “make” play doh! How cool is that! Trent, I for one really appreciated it being a mom of a 5 year old. Sometimes when it comes to frugality blogs – I read a lot of them – I feel like I have read it all. Then I get one that seems more like an enjoyable alternative to an expensive weekend outing at McDonalds that I am sure my kiddo will love as well and I think, hay! There is a reason for all the perusing after all. Trent, when are you going to write the book – 100 free things to do with a child on a long winter Alaskan Night???? lol! I’m getting sick of the 40 below weather and I really appreciate your input. It think some of your readers dont realize there are other readers out there without so many options for activities, such as outdoors. :)

By: deRuiter

deRuiter — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 22:37:57 +0000

#21, Evita, thanks, you are correct on both points. Luckily for me I never claimed to have a psssion for writing, although I admire others whose educations were not wasted and who spell correctly and write well!

By: Evita

Evita — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:36:55 +0000

#14 de Ruiter:
it is “thesaurus”,not “thesaurous”. And no need to buy it, just check the free thesaurus on-line !

By: Joan

Joan — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:24:06 +0000

Two cups of flour for ten cents. I want to shop where you do. Five pound bag of flour has ten cups, and costs much more than a dollar where I shop.

By: teresa

teresa — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:11:04 +0000

I use baby oil instead of vegetable oil and it smells so much better.

By: The Frugallery

The Frugallery — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:49:38 +0000

I like making playdoh because it allows you more freedom in choosing colors. And it’s so cheap that if it dries out or gets mixed with others colors you can just throw it out!

By: Carole

Carole — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:43:37 +0000

I didn’t like playdough when my children were small because it was so messy. I suppose I stifled their artistic instincts, but I didn’t get it out very often.

By: Therese Z

Therese Z — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:10:10 +0000

Unsweetened Koolaid is nice for color and scent, I agree with commenter above. But if you use food coloring, you can put a drop or two of after-shave (for some reason, more fun than perfume) in for a little scent, so it doesn’t smell “floury.”

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:05:29 +0000

Instead of buying yourself a video game on release date, make some play-doh!

By: deRuiter

deRuiter — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:25:02 +0000

“It’s an incredibly open-ended toy” and “It’s incredibly easy to make,…” First of all, the author’s threshold of incredulousness is extraordinarily low. Second, a small portion of the profits from selling the blog and a few minutes of the five hours a week spent playing games could be devoted to buying a dictionary and thesaurous in order to improve the work of a man with a “passion” for writing. Pity it isn’t a “passion for writing well” which would include listing the water with the rest of the ingredients. That said, the old idea of making your own play-doh is a fine one, inexpensive, interesting, and it teaches children that you can often make store bought things cheaper at home, like neon yellow play-doh.

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 03:46:50 +0000

Yellowish = probably the wrong white balance setting. I see this after taking photos in the “shade” setting outdoors, then forgetting to readjust the white balance when taking indoor evening photos.

By: BJD

BJD — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 02:18:06 +0000

The yellowish tinge comes for overexposure to Yellow Neon cars

By: Angie

Angie — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:15:29 +0000

Why do the photos tend to have a yellowish tinge to them? Even when I use my plain ol’ point and click indoors, it doesn’t look so yellow.

By: rebecca

rebecca — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:13:42 +0000

You can skip the CoT completely, with no problem, and I use half that much salt too.

And I use two or three packets of unsweetened coolaid for color and scent. Yummy.

By: BD

BD — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:05:34 +0000

This brings back memories. When I was a child, my mom would make this stuff for me to play with. I always loved it as a young kid, and now have fond memories of playing with it.