smelly rainbow dough

 This week, River and I made a batch of homemade playdoh with a special twist: scented dough!  I got the tip from River's preschool teacher, who used cinnamon to enhance her batch a few weeks ago.  When I found a shelf full of awesome extracts at a local market this week, I had just the inspiration I needed.  We tried our best to coordinate color to smell, but in lieu of making brown or white dough, our chocolate scent is purple and vanilla is blue.

River had a fantastic time playing with this stuff and has even made an effort to keep the colors separate (for now).  The downside is that this dough is not as great for my toddler, as it smells so much like food, she immediately wants to taste it.  However, it's made of natural food ingredients, so she's not going to be hurt if she swallows some.

Next time, I'll skip the chocolate - which we liked the least - in favor of cinnamon.  And I'll make sure to include almond.  That would work perfectly with a pink/red ball since almond is the smell I always associate with maraschino cherries.  If you'd like to make your own, see the recipe below.  It's super easy!

Homemade Scented Rainbow Dough

Combine in large saucepan: 

2 cups flour 

1/2 cup salt 

2 tsp. cream of tartar 

Add and whisk until smooth: 

2 cups water 

2 Tbsp oil 

(If you're only doing one color, add 1/2 - 1 tsp. of food coloring now; otherwise, mix it in when dough is cooled) 

Cook over medium heat until playdough is nearly set. 

Remove from heat and let cool. 

Break into 5 balls and put each in a bowl (I used the plastic containers they were going to be stored in to save on dishes).

Add 1/4 tsp. extract to each ball along with 5 - 15 drops of food coloring.

Knead well with spoon until liquids are mostly incorporated, then finish kneading by hand.

Store in Ziploc bag or air tight container.

Will keep for months if refrigerated.