It’s that time of year…well up north anyways! The temperatures are starting to drop a bit, and with it comes a change of seasons. Of course here in South Florida we don’t feel fall until November if we’re lucky, but our kids are learning about autumn in school. And while I loathe anything pumpkin, our girls are already talking about Halloween, and desperately want to see the leaves change color. (I tried to explain palm trees don’t have leaves.)
We don’t experience this season everyone raves about, but with a little help from the Dollar Tree we can bring fall to us! And since it’s National Playdough Day, I thought I’d share our new favorite – Pumpkin Playdough Recipe!
All you need are some fun cookie cutters.
Pumpkin pie spice or pumpkin essence. (I buy mine at Home Goods.)
A few fall leaves you can collect from your yard, or pick up at the Dollar store!
And a lot of imagination! Emylia cut out pumpkins, and made a cake! She even destroyed one of my $1 pumpkin finds to construct her masterpiece, but that’s the fun of sensory play isn’t it? Putting out the props and watching as they create?!
We may not get to break out the scarves and rakes, but we still have fun celebrating the holidays that are right around the corner! If you haven’t made homemade playdough before I assure you it’s super easy! We made this in 10 minutes, and the girls love measuring the flour, salt, and cream of tartar for me. The recipe is below, I hope you enjoy it!
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups warm water
- 1/2 cup salt
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1/2 bottle pumpkin emulsion (or 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice)
- 2-3 drops of glycerin (makes it smooth and shiny, optional)
- 10-15 drops red food coloring
- 5-10 drops yellow food coloring
- Mix all of the dry ingredients together, and then add the wet ingredients. Stir until well blended.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until a ball forms.
- Transfer hot play dough carefully to a floured surface. Knead as the dough cools
- When cooled store in a ziplock bag or airtight container.
- Have fun!
I also share lots of great fall recipes, parenting, and youth sports articles on my Facebook page, I’d love to connect! Happy fall y’all! (Well almost…)
This is so clever! And you’re right, we don’t feel fall until way late in the year here in Florida. I see all these posts about fall, and I’m like, forever summer here! Love Playdoh and what you did with it. 🙂
OK, not a huge fan of Playdough as I have had my fair share of messes here in the past with my girls and even wrote about it in the Mother of All Meltdowns anthology, but still I love pumpkin spice and you may have convinced me to give Playdough another try here! 🙂
I love that you used the pumpkin scent in the play doh! pinning!
Thank you! I know you LOVE pumpkin too!
I love homemade playdoh recipes! My daughter is a teenager now and we always keep some around just for mixing and mashing on rainy days. Excellent recipe, can’t wait to try it!
Great recipe! I totally pinned and stumbled it!
This must smell amazing! I am off to pin your recipe now.
This looks fun! I want to do this with the boys! Thanx! Pinned!
We love making our own play dough! It is one of my daughters favorite after school activities. Cute cute cute!
That looks absolutely delightful. And I shouldn’t mention that I used to eat Play-Doh when I was a kid and this looks even better than that salty nastiness!
My son loves playdough! I was just reading an article that talks about the importance of sensory play, and while we often think it mostly involves the sense of touch, it really is important to focus on all the senses. I love that this playdough comes with a sent.
good fun stuff! pinned.
OK, you know how much I Love pumpkin anything! This is fabulous! Definitely pinning and trying out! Thanks Kristen!
My girls would LOVE this! You cracked me up with the comment on the palm trees, btw.
I am embarrassed to say that I used to eat Play-Doh when I was a kid. I do love pumpkin, so this recipe might make me do it again. HaHa.
I would totally want to eat this playdough… lol.
How clever. I want to make some ASAP. I’m totally into all things fall right now!
Wishing you a lovely evening.
xoxo
YESSSSS I LOVE this! My 3 year old started preschool and is obsessed with playdough, but all we have are old crusty little containers full of mismatched crap that may or may not be covered in hair. I am so excited to show this to her! You have officially saved my week!! 🙂 *Pinned!*
Fall is my favorite time of year, but much too short here in Ohio. I might have to pull this recipe out to help it last a little longer even though we’ve already seen snow! Thanks for sharing.
How fun! I had no idea it was National Playdough day!