We are all searching for fun summer activities for kids. Finding something to keep them quietly playing for hours would be fabulous.

While I’m not promising you an entire day of peace this Simple Play Dough Recipe will keep your little ones busy for a while. This homemade play dough recipe I used while teaching kindergartener. It is definitely Kindergarten Teacher Tested and Approved!

At the beginning of each school year I would make up a big batch of my homemade play dough for my class. We would use the play dough to form letters, count out balls of dough, and simply to play.

After days and days of rain I thought some play dough might be just the entertainment my three children needed.

Homemade Play Dough Recipe

3 cups of flour

1 1/2 cups of salt

2 TBSP of Cream of Tartar

3 cups of water

3 TBSP Vegetable Oil

Place all dry ingredients into a large stock pot. Next add the oil and water. Stir until combined.

Continuously stir and cook mixture over medium heat on the stovetop until a large clump forms (like really stiff mashed potatoes).

Remove the play dough from the pot to let it cool. I quickly divided it up into three lumps and left it on the counter for each child.

Add food coloring to the plain dough. The more coloring you add the deeper the color will be. Be careful! Food coloring will stain!

Encourage your children to squeeze, knead, and pull the dough. This will spread the coloring through out.

I was surprised at how fun this activity was for our oldest son. He needs to release a lot of energy and really got into kneading the dough.

I’m happy to report that the children spent over an hour playing with their homemade play dough. That is an eternity in “summer time”!

Another summer activity for kids is to create “Color Surprise” play dough balls. For my little ones at school I would make each child a small ball with a drop or two of food coloring hidden inside. As I went through my lesson I would tell the children to squeeze the balls as hard as they could. Soon cries of excitement would ripple around the classroom as their white balls began to change color. Double the recipe if you are making the play dough for a large group of children.

Make sure to add this Homemade Playdough Recipe to your list of summer activities for kids. You might get more peace and quiet from the play dough than I did!

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