Safe, Natural Playtime! Playdough & Natural Dye recipes

Play dough is a fun way for kids to wile away the hours. I have begun a weekly babysitting job to three children, so I decided to make a couple batches of play dough for them. With a little brother who cannot eat or handle anything with artificial colorings (the dyes can be absorbed through your skin) and being responsible for the safety of three little ones, I wanted to make sure everything was as natural and healthy as possible, so I wanted to color it with plant-based dyes! I made pink and purple last week - not very good boy colors - but the materials I used to make the dye was pretty much the only colors I had on hand. I am looking forward to learning more about plant based dyes, and have put The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes into my wishlist; which though I think it's mostly for dying textiles and yarn and such, I think it will be useful in studying plant dyes.

I used the recipe for juice-dyes from Better Basics for the Home, the playdough recipe has been in my family for a long time, it's my grandmother's recipe, she used to make it for my dad and aunts and uncles, my brothers and I and my cousins, and my mom would make it for my brother and I, and Seth and I enjoy making it together. There are plenty of wholesome homemade recipes for homemade playdough around though if you want to try a different one. There is even one in Better Basics, which is basically just the same.
Alright, well here are the recipes!

For a pale pink I used cranberries, and blueberries for purple. I'll be putting a complete list of the most recommended materials for each color on my blog soon!

Plant-Based Juice Dye
1/4-1/2 cup plantstuffs
2 cups water

Place dying materials into a saucepan with water and simmer for 1 to 2 hours. Strain and pour into a glass jar with a lid.
Play dough
1 Tablespoon canola, vegetable or olive oil.
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 cup water
2-3 Tablespoons juice dyes.

Add first five ingredients into saucepan and mix, add juice dyes and get to desired shade and cook over medium heat. Stir until it forms a ball of dough. Remove from heat let it cool for a moment and knead until smooth. Let cool and then put into an airtight container or bag or play with it ;) .


Because of the high amounts of salt, the kiddies will have a bit of salty residue on their hands after playing, but this is normal.
Home-made playdough tends to get salty and dry after a month or two, but there is no need to pitch it yet; just put some oil (a teaspoon or two) in your hands or on the dough and knead it in, and it should be completely refreshed and ready to go!