I have a confession to make. As much as I love the Earth and green living, one of the biggest motivations to going zero waste is because I’m lazy. It’s true. I’m a total homebody and I hate driving. Or going places. I may be the only mom blogger in America that can’t stand Target. So the reason I make play dough for my kids isn’t just because it’s great to do a craft together, or that we don’t have to deal with all the wasteful plastic packaging or the chemicals in the dough itself. It’s mostly because when we run out or it dries up I don’t have to go anywhere to get more. We just make some!

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I start with a very basic recipe:

• 2 C flour (you can use gluten free with the same results)
• 1 C salt (fine is better than coarse)
• 4 t cream of tartar
• 2 t oil (any type works, I use olive oil)
• 2 C water

Pour everything into a sauce pot and stir. Heat it on medium until it’s the consistency of mashed potatoes, then reduce the heat and kind of mash it together until it thickens up. You can add more flour, a tablespoon at a time, if it is still too wet. I heat it about 5 minutes then turn off the heat and cover the pot while I round up my spices.

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I started out with a few basic pantry staples as my coloring agents. Cocoa for brown (cinnamon also works and they smell SO GOOD!), turmeric for yellow, paprika for orange, ground hibiscus flowers (you can buy tea bags or find loose tea in many Whole Foods or health food spice sections) for pink, and dill weed, basil, or mint for “army green.” I have started experimenting with a few other things as well. I grew purple potatoes this season and dehydrated one and ground it into a powder for an excellent purple. It’s normally much “purple-ier,” but I had already mixed some reds and my hands were stained when I got to the purple, thus making it very pink. I also have some activated charcoal pills that I found in the back of my medicine cabinet, which makes a fantastic rich black. Then some Red Reef Clay that I use for making makeup powders and lipsticks, for a nice wine red.

I use more or less a teaspoon for each color, with more if I need something darker. I’m still working on finding a great green, but for now my homegrown mint leaves work just fine. Someday I’d like to discover what would make a good blue. There are mineral powders, of course, but I really like to keep it as simple as possible. Perhaps I can grow some bright blue flowers and dry the leaves? I’ll have to keep brainstorming.

My favorite part about this, aside from the ease and affordability (we’re talking pennies on the dollar), is that this are truly a “chemical free” option. I hated going to the trouble of making dough, and then mixing in Red Dye #40. It just seemed to defeat the whole purpose. So now I just use beet root or paprika and have beautiful, aromatic, doughs that are truly safe to eat if that should happen. The dough works great with all the different play sets, makes excellent dresses for princess dolls, and flows well in all those “extruders.” Plus, it makes a great gift!