Homemade Play Dough!

Monday, November 11, 2013

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I know I've been SO inconsistent with blogging this year.. it's been a crazy one so far! I'm finally starting to feel settled in at school, so hopefully I'll be around and sharing more!

I teach plant science to all the fifth grade students. We just started a new rotation and I start my unit focusing on plant cells. I thought I would switch it up this time and do a more exciting craft with my kiddos.. so I set out to make play dough plant cells. 

I was going to go out and buy play dough, but after a bit of research, it was going to cost a lot. $4 per child.. $80 per class... $320 per year.. for one lesson.. no way!  My mom suggested I make it myself. That never even crossed my mind! Thanks mom :) 

I found a few recipes online and off to Walmart I went. The recipes I found were from mom blogs meant for just a few children and I had no idea how much to buy.. so I obviously bought twice as much as I needed. Luckily, I will need to make this plant cell again in a few months. 

To make enough for 20 students I needed:
One 5 lb bag of flour - $1.88
Three 26 oz. canisters of salt - $0.48 each
Vegetable oil - I already had this (14 tbsp total)
Cream of tartar - Relatively speaking, this was expensive! $5.98
Four Kool-Aid packets (for coloring) - $0.20 each

$0.50 per child.. much more cost effective! 

*These are the prices I paid at my local Walmart - Remember, you're not eating it, so buy generic!

Here it goes.. It took about two hours. It would've taken A LOT less time if I didn't individually wrap each portion and make lots of different colors, but we live and learn! 

5 cups flour
2.5 cups salt
5 tbsp vegetable oil
5 tsp cream of tartar
5 cups water
1 packet of Kool-Aid for coloring

Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large pot. Add in vegetable oil and water and cook on the stove over medium heat (stirring constantly) for 5-7 minutes or until it becomes the consistency of play dough. 

This made roughly 10-12 cups of play dough. I portioned it out to 1/2 cup per child. 


I'm going to warn you, mixing this play dough is tough! I enlisted the help of my husband and a sturdy spoon (if it's not sturdy, it'll break) to help me mix. If I was doing this on my own I think I would've cut the recipe in half and just done more batches. 

Stay tuned to see how we made our plant cells! 




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November Facebook Frenzy!

Friday, November 8, 2013

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I am SO excited to be involved in the November Facebook Frenzy! I missed the first three and couldn't wait for this one!

Here is my Frenzy Freebie! You can grab it through Google Docs or on my Facebook Page by clicking the FB Frenzy tab!


Turkey talk is a fun Thanksgiving themed word work activity! Students can use them for their weekly vocabulary work or to enhance their writing and choose more specific words by using a thesaurus and filling in the outer feathers of the turkey! 

The frenzy will run from now until Monday November 11th at 8pm EST.

Looking for more frenzy freebies? Check out the maps below to start liking and grab more than 150 freebies for K-5 and clip art! Click the pictures below to get started! 

 Grade 4-5 Map

Grade 3 Map

 Grade 2 Map

Grade 1 Map

Kindergarten Map

Clip Art Map


Classroom Freebies Manic Monday
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