The other day, Banana was busy eating her macaroni – wait, let me clarify – Banana was busy squishing her fingers through her macaroni, when an idea struck me -- can we do this for fun, instead of with food? Let's make some play dough!

Making play dough allows you to avoid some of the nasty ingredients (Wikipedia lists such contents as petroleum and dyes). While Hasbro's Play Doh is non-toxic and inexpensive (a can will set you back about a buck), the cumulative effect of its fossil fuel ingredients, packaging and the multitude of plastic "tools" that they try to oversell you is huge.

So, I consulted the "oracle" and found a number of recipes. You can make great dough at home with stuff from your pantry in about 10 minutes. I was surprised to find out I'd have to cook it. This site from babyparenting.com had the best range of options. I chose Nature's Playdough:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup water
2 T oil
2 T cream of tartar
beet, spinach, and carrot juice
Mix flour, salt and oil, and slowly add the water. Cook over medium heat, stirring until dough becomes stiff. Turn out onto wax paper and let cool. Knead the dough with your hands until of proper consistency. Use as is, or divide into balls and add a few drops of the vegetable juices to make green, pink, and orange.

Banana was thrilled with it! We made balls and smashed them, and played hide-and-seek with her fingers. When she realized it was fun to pop in her mouth, funtime ended.

When we were done, I stored it in a plastic baggie, but after a few days it sort of melted. I tried to rehabilitate it with more corn starch, but to no avail. Oh, well, I'll just make a new batch, one of these days!

Have a great green weekend!
K.C. Ridihalgh
Please pass this along to a great green friend, parent or kid!