Until 6 weeks ago, Guppy & I were a pretty active pair. Afternoons most often meant going for a walk or a bike ride, maybe exploring in the “Grand Parc” of the castle…but since I have been immobilized, she has also been grounded.
We have become rather adept with the pâte à sel or salt dough thanks to our forced “down-time”, and I must admit, it’s been much fun.
My only real complaint is that I have been without food coloring for a few months so things were very White Christmas, but Guppy didn’t seem to mind.
Here’s our little “Salt Dough” recipe. This stuff will last in the fridge in an air-tight container for about a week or so, depending on how much it gets used. I know you can make longer-lasting stuff, but for that you need cream of tartar, and that is a very special-order item here in France.
Pâte à sel
*by cup I mean a cup, mug, or glass – it’s the ratio of quantities here that matters.
1 cup of salt
1 cup warm water
2 cups flour
Directions : mix. Then play.
Seriously, just mix it up, adding either more flour or more water until it feels right. You can obviously add food coloring to make things more spiffy. I considered adding a few drops of essential oil so it would smell perdy, but since Guppy still does way too much tasting of everything, I opted not to do that. But you could if your kidlet is less apt to still put everything in their mouths.
We’ve had so much fun we’re planning on making some baked salt dough holiday ornaments later today – how Osmond’s Christmas is that? I know! But heck, it was even my idea to do it. I embrace the holiday schmaltz in all its glory, because we’re making memories here people!
Great! Eric and I will be using this. We are working on a children’s music video for a friend and it involves pizza. We were planning to use dough characters.
salt dough is too awesome! perhaps i’ll make some for my neighbor the next time i watch her – i bet she’d love it, too! have fun making awesome creations – and make some of the best memories yet! yay!
i love it! yay! thanks for the recipe for the salt dough – and we’ve got some cream of tartar, too! maybe i’ll make some for my neighbor the next time i watch her! i think she would love it the most! thanks, Shelly! make some of the best memories yet! yay!
Aww…these are definitely nice memories for Guppy. Have fun baking the ornaments!!
Good stuff, I used to love playdough when I was younger, I think my mum and I even made some but it didn’t work as well as yours!
c’est adorable! et pis je suis sure que vous pourrez bientot retourner aller vous amuser au parc ensemble, hein dis?
I am going to have to try salt dough again. Last time Amelie ate a lot of it. The salt didn’t put her off. It made me worry though that she had had her entire weekly allowance of salt in one mouthful!
So much fun! I love playing with clay-type stuff (hence my love of fondant).
I remember playing with homemade salt dough when I was little. Your creations are awesome (I don’t remember anything I made with the stuff).
We love making homemade playdough. This is another favorite of ours but it’s messy so you might want to wait til you are more mobile to make it: Oobleck
Can you get alum in France? Because I’ve seen recipes call for Cream of Tartar OR alum before.
P.S. If desperate, I’ll send ya some! (All in the name of homemade playdough!)
Can’t wait to see your ornaments! I have a vague memory of flour-based playdough from when I was a kid, but don’t remember the salt (bet Guppy wasn’t too impressed tasting it!).
That Salt Girl looks just like me!! I’m honored that you’d do my portrait
Aww, this is so cute. I used to make my own Play Doh all the time! It’s so fun to create your own colors.
SO cute!! You certainly ARE creating wonderful memories