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Pumpkin Playdough

For Abby's party, I made some pumpkin playdough for the kids to play with.  It included pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon so that it really did smell like a yummy pie!  I am a lover of homemade playdough, but this is my first time making pumpkin.  Here's my tried and true recipe!

Materials
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
pumpkin pie spice (Caleb just shook a bunch in until it smelled "pumpkiny!"
cinnamon (no measuring here either)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups water
Food coloring (we used 6 drops of red and 15 drops of yellow)

Instructions

1.Combine the dry ingredients in a nonstick saucepan.
2. Add the oil to 1 cup of water and pour over mix. 
3.  Add food coloring to the second cup of water and add to the mixture. 
4.  Whisk until smooth.
5.  Stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, cook the mixture over medium heat until it forms a ball--about 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Turn the dough onto a counter, let it cool slightly, then knead the dough until it has a smooth texture--about 1 minute.
4.  When it's cool, put the dough in a Lock and Lock container for freshness.  Trust me--I've tried Ziploc bags and other plastic containers.  The L & L keeps it from drying out.


 
I made another batch to use as favors for the kids.  I got this idea off of Family Fun, which is one of my favorite websites for crafts.  (Their magazine is awesome too!)
 
I took about a fist's worth of pumpkin dough and made it into a ball so that it looked like a pumpkin.
 
Then, I pushed a piece of spinach spiral pasta (the green ones) into the top of each ball.  I just happened to have a box of veggie pasta on-hand, so I picked out the number of spinach ones I needed!  Family Fun had a whole explanation about how to dye them, but this was so much easier!
 
I placed each pumpkin inside of one of those fold-over plastic bags, then tied the top of the bag with raffia.  (You can use plastic wrap instead of bags, but I find this much easier to work with!) 
 
Then I used a Sharpie to decorate to front of the bag like a pumpkin!  Each one is a little different, which thoroughly entertained Caleb.  :)


Since the bags aren't air-tight and I didn't want the playdough to dry out before the party, I put all of my little pumpkins in a L & L container.  Plus, it made it very easy to carry them to the party!


I was really pleased with how they turned out.  They were a big hit, and relatively easy to make.  I'm going to make another batch for Caleb's preschool party.  It's a fun alternative to junk food and candy, which they will have plenty of as it is!  :)



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