I have been working really hard to get the girls to bed at reasonable times and into a routine before school starts up again. So far its been going well, with both girls asleep before 10pm, but that also means that both of them are up at 7:30/8am every morning. That will work out great for school, but its hard for me to adjust since I am such a night owl.

Because of the early wake up times, by the time it gets to be noon, everyone is a bit crazy and bored. The "witching hour" used to be about 4 on our old schedule and we could survive til Jim got home, but now that its noon I am having to come up with lots of afternoon activities to distract them. One of our favorites.... playdough!

Now, playing with the dough makes them happy, but making the dough from scratch makes them even happier. They love to help measure out the stuff, pick out the coloring, and watch the mixer go around. We tried a lot of dough recipes before we found one that is 1. easy and 2. a great consistency. Here is ours, made in the stand mixer with the dough hook:

Non-stick Playdough Recipe
1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/2 cup of salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 pkg kool aid (or you could use drops of food coloring to get the colour you want)

1. Boil the water
2. Add flour, salt, kool aid, and cream of tarter to mixing bowl. Measure out 1 cup of boiling water, add vegetable oil to water. Dump water/oil mixture into flour mixture.
3. Turn mixer to medium speed (remember to use the dough hook) and let it mix for a minute. You may need to use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl and get up any stuck flour to the bottom. Turn back on low again until you get dough that is forming a ball and completely mixed.
4. Shape into a ball and set aside to cool for a few minutes before you transfer to an air tight storage container.

If you don't have a stand mixer of some kind you can do this on the stove. Simply mix it altogether in a large pot & stir constantly over low heat until thick and it looks like a ball of playdough, It just takes a bit longer and more arm strength ;)