How to make an analogue Play-Doh at home?

Raising a child is always a huge expense, so even wealthy families often think about how to save money without losing the quality of goods for the baby.

There are things that can not save on principle. But, for example, the famous Play-Doh plasticine, whose positive properties are indisputable, is very expensive, however, according to many housewives, it is successfully prepared with its own hands at home. At a minimum, this option is worth trying at least once, because thanks to your own ingenuity you can reduce the cost of clay 10 times.

Play-Doh - probably the most expensive mass for modeling of all those that are represented on the domestic market, at least in the segment for children's creativity.

This brand has dozens of competitors, and the most famous domestic manufacturers offer clay at a price that allows you to buy ten times more weight instead of one set of famous brand. Nevertheless, many mothers prefer to pay much more or make an analogue of their own.

The fact is that the original Play-Doh is very different in properties from the plasticine to which even young modern parents are accustomed to in childhood. Key features of this clay (and at the same time - and properly prepared home weight) are:

Contrary to the fact that almost all types of children's clay are labeled as safe, except that Play-Doh actually meets this definition, because most other species usually contain lube oil.

The American brand, on the contrary, represents edible clay, that is, the child can theoretically even eat it. However, since the mass is not intended for this purpose, a lot of salt is usually added to it, forcing the child to spit out a piece each time, and at the same time - weaning to pull into his mouth anything. Homemade recipe may not contain salt - in this case, molded products can be eaten.

Most of the recipes offered on the web do not contain a single harmful component, and although exceptions to this rule are found, they will not be listed here.

Classic Play-Doh is not even plasticine, but rather a dough for modeling.

For those kids who are not lucky enough to mess with products of the domestic manufacturer, modeling turns into anguish because of the need to pre-warm up the hardened mass, however, Play-Doh and its home counterparts do not require any preparation - you can sculpt it immediately.

Contrary to its softness, such a dough for sculpting holds a complex shape quite well, so you can make many different handicrafts from it. In this case, given the composition of the mixture, it is quite possible to bake it in the oven - then the hack will harden and become more durable.

For really complex products, such processing presents a certain risk, since there is a probability of a change in the colors and shape of the figure, but the same molded figures and letters can always be immortalized.

If we talk about the advantages of the home version before the factory version, then, in addition to significantly reduced financial costs, it is worth highlighting the possibility of cooking at any time. With all its merits, Play-Doh should be carefully protected from drying out, otherwise it will lose elasticity and will have to be thrown away.

In the world wide web you can find a lot of different cooking options for Play-Doh, but in some of them the authors completely forgot about the main requirement - complete safety for the baby, up to the preservation of edibility.

If we discard all questionable ingredients, then the list of components will become practically standard, with small differences, except in proportions - the density of the resulting mass depends on them.

The main ingredients are common flour, water and finely ground salt. The proportion on average looks like 2: 2: 1 - in the same order in which the listed ingredients are indicated.

Vegetable oil is also always added to soften (approximately one tablespoon of oil for each cup of flour), and almost always food coloring, unless you plan to create a mass of white.

Further cooking mechanism looks extremely simple. All of the above ingredients, except for dyes, are mixed to the maximum homogeneous state - usually such a slurry resembles dough for pancakes.

Dye can be added as at this stage, and after the preparation of the mass, but then you should first divide the entire prepared mixture into several parts, each of which will receive its own color.

The mass is poured into the pan or pan and placed on the stove, and it is desirable that the heating area is as large as possible, and the mixture is heated evenly. In the process of heating, the mass must be diligently stirred all the time to maintain uniformity, due to the increase in temperature, the water from it begins to evaporate, and the future clay begins to thicken.

Do not believe the recipes, which indicate the exact time of heating - it depends on the temperature of the plate, the amount of mass and features of dishes, that is, it is different. Clay is ready if and only if it stops sticking to the walls and the bottom, and becomes thick enough to be able to keep shape. Ideally, it is time to compare the consistency of the prepared mixture with a real Play-Doh, and when they become identical - it's time to remove the clay from the fire.

If the clay was not previously painted, you need to interfere with the dye in the already frozen mass. With initially liquid dyes a little easier, and those that are produced in powders, you must first bring to the state of the liquid - the instruction should be on the label.

In the dough, divided into lumps, make small depressions into which the dye is poured, after which the mass is again thoroughly mixed. The amount of dye is determined by eye - the more, the brighter need shade. If the shade is pale, the procedure can be repeated several times in a row.. Again, for coloring, you can use all-natural ingredients - say, juice squeezed from vegetables or fruits of the desired shade.

The finished household mass is so reminiscent of a real Play-Doh that it copies it even in the main drawback, namely, in the fear of fresh air.

In the open air, the mass loses moisture very quickly, with the result that it is no longer characterized by elasticity, starting to harden and crumble. In this connection, it is necessary to store homemade edible plasticine only in plastic sealed containers with a lid.in the extreme case - tightly wrapped in several layers of cellophane, and from there - only for the duration of the game.

Be that as it may, the Play-Doh, neither real nor self-made, is not eternal material - in the process of the game it still dries out. Usually, at first, the mass can be slightly revitalized - for this you need to add a little bit of water into it and knead thoroughly again. However, such a procedure is not a panacea, because dried bread due to soaking in water will not become fresh again - this is the case with modeling dough.

After a few months, it will be impossible to restore the dried mass, and then the mother will have to make clay again (unless the baby uses all the reserves before). However, this is nothing complicated.

The opposite situation, when plasticine, on the contrary, absorbs excess water from the atmosphere, happens quite rarely, but is also considered fixable by simpler methods.

As a rule, in this situation simply reheat the mass again - as if it is being cooked again, so that it dries out and begins to hold its shape again.

Learn more about how to make an analogue of Play-Doh at home, you will learn from the following video.