{Playing Through Autumn Day 10} Cinnamon Play Dough

There is just nothing like home made play dough - it's softer than store bought, it smells divine, you can personalize it in almost any way, and it can be made with things you most likely already have in your house. I love the stuff. So when I came upon a recipe for cinnamon play dough in an old resource binder, I knew I couldn't let autumn pass us by without making it.

Cinnamon Spice Play Dough

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

4 tsp cream of tartar or alum

5 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cloves

2 cups water

2 Tbsp oil

Combine dry ingredients in a saucepan. Add the water and oil and mix well. Cook over medium high heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture begins to thicken and form a stiff ball. Remove from heat and knead when cool enough to handle. Store in a Ziploc bag when cooled to keep from drying out.

This stuff smells amazing and will get your whole kitchen smelling of tasty cinnamon! And the really great thing is, it falls right out of a no-stick pan. I plopped mine onto a plate to cool, then kneaded it as soon as I could touch it.

Play dough is such a multifaceted material: it's a great sensory experience, it's fantastic for fine motor and dexterity skill development, it's creatively open-ended. I presented the finished product to L with pumpkin and leaf cookie cutters for that added autumn flair. We were both engaged with this stuff for nearly an hour!

We have been playing with this dough for the better part of a week now, and it has yet to lose its luster. It still smells fantastic and we have yet to run out of new ways to play with it. Play dough is seriously awesome!

Do your kids enjoy play dough? What other open-ended activities do your kiddos enjoy?