Dough!

Webelos sculpt with homemade play dough.

I now have a Webelos den.  Last week we started on the artist activity badge by playing with play dough.  My son absolutely loved play dough when he was little; I made it using a recipe that I will share.

I made 3 batches of the recipe (one red, one blue, one yellow) for our den meeting.  We discussed primary colors and mixed bits of the dough to make secondary colors.  The green came out great, the orange was OK and the purple was not very good.  Maybe the red was too dark?  Then the boys made their clay sculptures using the dough and photographed them.

While they were sculpting we talked about different mediums and types of art (don't forget comics, video games, and other fun things are created by artists!), and our favorite artists.  We had also planned a show and tell; the boys were to bring something made by or designed by an artist.  Two families remembered (we were not one of them ^_^; ).  This was a fun way to get the boys to participate and contribute.

The dough was such a huge hit we did not have time for drawing but I'm not complaining.  Volcanos ended up being the most popular subject.  Perhaps we should work on geologist next? Everyone took their dough home in a baggie, even my son who originally thought the activity was beneath him.  There is just something about kneading the soft dough (especially when it is still warm from cooking it) that is very pleasant and soothing.

Here is the recipe.

Play Dough

1 cup flour

1 cup water

1/2 cup salt

1 Tbsp cooking oil

2 tsp cream of tartar

Food coloring

In a medium saucepan, combine all the ingredients except for the food coloring.  Stir well with a spoon.

Cook over medium heat.  Add a few drops of food coloring.  Stir until mixture starts to form a ball.  Remove from heat and allow to cool a bit.

Knead the dough until it is soft and smooth.  It will keep for a very long time in an airtight container at room temperature.

Try to keep it from being trampled into the carpet!

One of several volcano sculptures.