Yesterday my two littlest darlings (ages 3 and 1) and I made homemade playdough!  I have never done this with them, even though I used to make it for my oldest two when they were 2 or 3 years old.  I have a tried-and-true recipe handed down from Gram that she used when *I* was little ... but I couldn't find it yesterday.  So I hopped online and found the following recipe, which I tweaked a bit (I'm turning into a habitual recipe-tweaker!):

PLAYDOUGH

4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 4 cups water, 4 TBSP oil, 1/2 cup cream of tartar

Mix all ingredients into a bigger saucepan (Here is where I tweaked it:  Don't know about you, but I have cream of tartar in those small little spice bottles, so didn't have anywhere NEAR 1/2 cup of the stuff.  So I added about a TBSP or maybe two, then added 2 TBSP cornstarch for no particular reason.  I also added some food coloring here as I was stirring so it would blend evenly).  Cook and stir over low/medium heat until playdough is completely formed and no longer sticky.  Allow to cool slightly before storing in an airtight container or zip lock bag.

Be forewarned, this makes a big batch.  You might want to half it if you don't want a bunch.  Or at least divide into halves or fourths and color each portion a different color for variety.  We made the whole batch and used one color, not realizing it would make so much!  So we've got a whole lotta blue playdough and have been having a ball with it!

In case you're interested, I think I read somewhere that you can substitute 1/2 baking soda and 1/2 baking powder for cream of tartar when you're in a pinch.  Never actually tried it, though.  If you choose to go this route, you'd use 1/4 cup baking soda and 1/4 cup baking powder in this recipe.  If you try it, let me know how it turns out!  In the meantime, I'm gonna give Gram a ring and have her look up the original playdough recipe I know and love ... but for now, this one turned out to be a definite close second!