Homemade Play Dough

Lately I've been feeling like a lame mom.  Molly is 20 months old and has lots of energy.  She's also at the age where she needs constant supervision and loves being by my side.  While I do love the cuddles and fun, I'm a bit lazy (and frugal) when it comes to constantly having new toys for her to play with and things for her to do.  I also am already sick of cleaning up our every-day messes, so projects that create more messes are less exciting to me.  HOWEVER, I know that toddlers need to do fun activities and make messes, and that it is my job as momma to clean them up.

I've been wondering if it is time for her to have play dough.  That can't be too messy, can it??  I don't mind spending a few dollars on the stuff from the store, but I thought, just for fun, I would try making it today.

It took all of 5 minutes, and I am pleasantly surprised at the quality.  It's actually pretty awesome!  I used this recipe.

Here it is with all the ingredients in the pan:

You cook it for a few minutes and magically, it starts to look like this:

Then, you take it out of the pan and knead it for less than a minute and it looks like this!

The only modification I made to the original recipe is that I didn't add vanilla.  I don't need another reason for my child to want to eat this stuff.  Also, I actually like the smell the way it is... it reminds me of my childhood.