Play dough and Nature Prints

We like to go on walks through “nature” (the neighborhood) and pick up things we find interesting.  I thought for once we would collect a bunch of different things that we find and use it to make prints in play dough.  It’s just another way to explore nature!

I tried to get them to just pick a few of each thing, but we still ended up with about 5 rocks and 10+ pods from mesquite trees.
I originally chose brown play dough for this project, but the white seemed better.  I just wanted a natural color really.  After this we are adding color to the white anyways!

Then I let them go wild with the prints.  They wanted to try everything to see what patterns they could get.

I knew the pods would give a really awesome print.  They are so ridgey.

Royal made a bunch of fun prints.  At this point he demolished his creation and started again.

Logi-Bear loved the rocks most.

And Baloo set up walls out of pods and leaves.

We use just a very basic play dough recipe.  It’s simple but awesome.

2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tbsp oil (any oil will do, but I prefer to use canola oil)
2 tbsp cream of tartar
1 1/2 cups water

Add all the ingredients to a pot and mix.  Set on medium heat.  Stir until the mixture starts to pull away and forms a ball. 

You can leave it white, or add food coloring, jello mix, or kool-aid to it to make colors.  If you add kool-add you have the added benefit of a nice smell!