CubbyKit Mushy Martians - FAIL!

Today me and Jack decided to make Mushy Martians which came in our CubbyKit.
I think Jack was more excited than I was - we have never made play dough before.

All the ingredients we used were supplied in the CubbyKit, along with instructions.
2 pots of flour
1 pot of cream of tartar and salt mix
oil and food colouring mix

We added the cream of tartar and salt mix and added the 1 cup of water along with the food colouring mix and warmed on the cooker.

Once the liquid had warmed we removed from the cooker and proceeded to add the 2 pots of flour. It became just a pan full of flour gloop!

Either the amount of water stated was wrong or there wasn't enough flour. What a shame as Jack was looking forward to creating a martian.


I have found a play dough recipe online which we will be making and hopefully this time it works.


Play Dough Recipe (involving cooking)


Basic ingredient ratios:2 cups flour2 cups warm water1 cup salt2 Tablespoons vegetable oil1 Tablespoon cream of tartar (optional for improved elasticity)food colouring (liquid, powder, or unsweetened drink mix)


Mix all of the ingredients together, and stir over low heat. The dough will begin to thicken until it resembles mashed potatoes. 

When the dough pulls away from the sides and clumps in the centre, remove the pan from heat and allow the dough to cool enough to handle.

Keep stirring and cooking until the dough is dry and feels like play dough.
IMPORTANT NOTE: if your playdough is still sticky, you simply need to cook it longer! 

Turn the dough out onto a clean counter or silicone mat, and knead vigorously until it becomes silky-smooth. Divide the dough into balls for colouring.
Make a divot in the center of the ball, and drop some food coloring¹ in. Fold the dough over, working the food color through the body of the playdough, trying to keep the raw dye away from your hands and the counter. You could use gloves or plastic wrap at this stage to keep your hands clean- only the concentrated dye will color your skin, so as soon as it's worked in bare hands are fine.
Work the dye through, adding more as necessary to achieve your chosen color.
¹ If you use unsweetened drink mix for color, test on a small ball first- it won't go as far as the "real" food colouring.


Play with your play dough- I really don't need to help you there. It's entirely edible, if a bit salty, so it's kid-safe.
When you're done, store your playdough in an air-tight container.- If it begins to dry out, you can knead a bit of water in again to soften the dough back to useability. Once it's dried past a certain point, however, you'll just have to start over; thankfully it's not terribly difficult.- If it gets soggy, you can re-heat it to drive off the extra water the dough absorbed overnight.  This is usually the result of high humidity, but is fixable!You can also bake it in the oven to make hard dough figures and ornaments, then paint or otherwise decorate the surface.