Playing With Playdough

[divamomma]

Is it OK for my daughter to play with playdough if she washes her hands after?

Would using gloves be a good idea?

Should I be supplying my daughter with gluten-free playdough? Or the whole class?

[Roda]

I don't let my kids have it in the house at all. My youngest son and the school have been informed that he is not to play with it also. Before he went gluten free I threw away all of his playdoh and replaced it with soyer doh. It was good for a little while but if it gets to warm it gets sticky. It also crystalized in the containers. I am just going to make some from the argo website. Even if your daughter does not put her hands in her mouth and washes them after, IMHO there is too much room for CC to take place from playing with it and having in the house and I would think school would be worse because of the other kids. Luckily my son is in kindergarden and they very rarely play with it. In daycare though he did but that was before he went gluten free.

[concernedmamma]

I was not comfortable with having regular playdough in my son's classroom. Just too many opportunities to have it spread EVERYWHERE! Kids aren't that great at washing their hands, And, my son often puts his hands in his mouth, chews his nails, etc. I volunteered to provide gluten free playdough for the classroom for the year. I am enjoying making the contribution and it isnt' that much work!

[divamomma]

Do you have a recipe you could share? I heard from a few other people that the gluten-free playdough they made fell apart and didn't last.

[concernedmamma]

Hi! I had posted this on another thread, so I just copied it and will paste below........

Mix dry ingredients:

1/2 cup rice flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp cream of tarter

Add 1 cup of water, and 1 T oil, food colouring if desired. Mix well.

Heat a pot with 1 T oil over medium heat (don't get it too hot). Give the wet ingredients a stir and pour into the pot. Stir with a spatula, carefully scraping the bottom of the pot. Should gradually get thicker. After about 3 minutes you should have a lovely bowl of playdough!

_______________________________________________________________________________________

I have never made 'cooked' playdough before, so this was new to me. A few things that I find make it a better playdough- allow the wet ingredients to sit for a minute or two before cooking. Stir just before adding to the pan. If the pan is too hot, it gets really rubbery.

I do find this playdough dries out faster than others. I have added more oil if it is sticky- not sure why sometimes it needs more than others.

Good Luck and let me know if this turns out for you or not.

[concernedmamma]

just another FYI- I am providing the kindergarten class with 3-4 batches every 6 weeks or so. Just recently tried to double the recipe and it worked well, so it is even faster now!

[divamomma]

Thanks very much. I must have missed it when you posted it before