It really is easy peasy and so much nicer then the stuff you buy.  All you need is:

• 1 cup of plain flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1 tablespoon of cream of tartar
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 2 fruit teabags (or food dye)
• 1 cup of hot water

First add your teabags to the cup of boiling water, you'll need to leave for 4-5 minutes to get a rich colour, I'm impatient though so mine only got a pink tinge.  You can use food dye instead (add to the water) however, the teabags smell divine! Also add the tablespoon of oil.  I used vegetable oil, you can use any oil.  Baby oil gives it a nice smell on your hands when you're playing with it.

In a bowl add the dry ingredients together.


Add the coloured water to the dry ingredients and start mixing

 It will be quite sticky and sloppy at first.

Keep mixing and it will firm up, if it doesn't seem to be turning you can add a little more flour until it does.

Play!

 
 
Keep in a self-seal bag or airtight container and it lasts for quite a long time.  If the air gets to it and it feels a little crunchy just soften it in your hands with some more oil.

Tutorial: Rainbow Rice

So a few people have asked how to make rainbow rice, it's easy peasy, trust me it would have to be for me to do it as I'm shall we say craft-challenged with a raging Patience deficiency.

So, what do you need?

• Baking sheet with either grease proof paper, newspaper or foil.
• White rice
• Sealable bag
• Hand sanitiser (it smells nicer then rubbing alcohol and you need it to 'set' the dye')
• Food colouring (I used natural green colouring however, more vibrant results are achieved with the none natural kind, moreso with the the gels as they give super vibrant results)

 Put the rice in your sealable bag and add the food colouring and a decent squirt of hand sanitiser.

Get your resident princess to give it a really decent shake and
 squish to coat all the rice

Empty it all out onto your baking tray and spread out.  Leave it to dry, it works great if it's a sunny day you can just put it outside then or you could use your airing cupboard.  If you're super impatient like me you can put it in your oven for about 10-20 mins on around 160-175 degrees.  However keep checking it before it burns!

When it's cool, add to your tub/tray/tin with other colours you've made and let the fun commence.  This would work really well in a large shallow tub, as a sandpit type of play. Draw in it with your fingers, use measuring cups and jugs to pour, drive cars and dinosaurs through it.  You could even make pictures with it and glue it to paper.

The Toddler loves it so much that when he saw me put the tin away today, he cried.  Lots.




You can also dye pasta for a different feel/sound when playing with :