To make: Homemade spiced play dough...

 Evelyn and I made our own play dough last Thursday.  She loves to pour, dump, mix, and stir so it was a perfect activity for her to help with.  Firstly, I outfitted her in a beloved apron that was given to me by a wonderful group of blog friends!  Morsel loves the pocket and the red ball fringe on the bottom edge and I do too.  Anyway, I digress...We mixed and kneaded until we had the perfect spiced play dough.  It keeps for up to 6 months, so it is something we can keep using for awhile and Evelyn was so happy to be helping in the kitchen.

 She wanted to help knead the dough but, it was a bit hot to the touch for her, so I worked it until smooth and by then it had cooled down enough that she could play.

Here is the recipe that I used:

Play Dough
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup salt
1 Tablespoon cream of tartar
2-3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup flour

Combine water, oil, salt, cream of tartar, and spices in a saucepan and heat until warm.  Remove from heat and add flour.  Stir and knead until smooth.  The cream of tartar makes this dough last up to 6 months or longer, so resist the temptation to omit this ingredient if you do not have it on hand.  Store this dough in an airtight container of freezer/zip bag.
I adapted this dough recipe from the one in the Toddler's Busy Book by Trish Kuffner.  I added what I felt was a good amount for the spices and it really does smell lovely while the children play with it.  If desired you could omit the spices and add food coloring as desired to make a colored dough.

I know play dough can be a messy venture with children, but mine love it and to me it's worth it to have to pick it up off of the kitchen floor at times.  I love making our own dough too, because then I know what is in it and it's not a toxic-I-have-no-clue-what-is-in-this dough.  I'm always a fan of things like that.