Garden Playdough

Written By Emily @ nurturing acres

“Hey mommy, can we play with garden playdough today?” - my 4-year old

“Ummm… garden… playdough?” - me

“Yeah!!”

*cue the wheels turning in my head for 8 seconds before coming up with an answer to what he was looking for*

I guess the boys were missing the garden as much as I was in the dead of winter, so I set to work, fulfilling their dreams of playing with garden playdough. I whipped up a batch of my gluten free playdough, then grabbed some different dried flowers for them to mix into the dough themselves.. and it was a total win!

Garden Playdough (using my Gluten Free Playdough Recipe)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup baking soda

  • 1/2 cup corn starch (arrowroot powder would also work)

  • 3/4 cup water

  • 5 drops vegetable glycerin (optional – helps keep dough from sticking to the table)

  • Optional: dried flowers to really drive home the “garden” effect, you can use ones you’ve dried from your yard or these dried petals here (this is what I used!) - calendula, rose, lavender

  • Optional: natural food coloring like this one or you could use mica powder as another natural option

  • Optional aromatherapy: 5-10 drops essential oil, I like using Balance!

Instructions:

  1. Add baking soda, corn starch, water to saucepan & stir to combine

  2. Place over medium heat, stir constantly as dough begins to form

  3. When it starts to come together as a dough, add 5 drops of vegetable glycerin

  4. Once the dough starts to ball around the spoon, remove from the saucepan to cool

  5. Once cool, have your kids add the flower petals to their dough and knead together

  6. Optional: add 5-10 drops essential oil and knead together. Add in optional coloring at this point too

Store in air tight container in the fridge.

So tell me, what would you add to your playdough?! The possibilities are endless!

Emily @ nurturing acres