This sweet-smelling glitter playdough recipe will delight everybody’s senses and as an added bonus, it will make lovely glittery playdough jewellery.

Playdough is a terrific tool for creative play and learning in young children. It’s easy to model and builds self-esteem. Making your own playdough saves money and allows you a bit of creative expression too!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of plain flour
• 4 tablespoons of cream of tartar
• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil
• 1 cup of salt
• 2 cups of boiling water
• Some glitter (choose biodegradable, if you can)
• Food colouring
• A few drops of any essential oil such as peppermint, lavender, eucalyptus, bergamot, rose, etc.

Method:

1. Put everything in a bowl and mix it up. It takes a while and may look like it’s not coming together, but hang in there.
2. Once it’s roughly together, you can throw it on the bench to knead. It will eventually come together nicely.
3. Keep it in an air-tight container and it will last for weeks.

Notes:

• Wrap the playdough up well after your child has finished playing with it in a ziplock bag (with all the air squeezed out) and then pop it in an airtight plastic box. This way, it’ll stay fresh for another day.
• Add the food colouring to the playdough and knead on a plastic board if you don’t want to turn your wooden chopping board a funny colour!
• Roll out the dough and use cookie cutters to make decorations. Use a straw to make a hole for hanging and then thread the air-dried shapes on to pretty ribbon or string to make a colourful garland.