Danya Banya14
Edible low sugar play dough for toddler and preschooler sensory play.
This post comes with a warning to your waistline, because what I am about to show you is disturbingly delicious.
It’sedible.
It’slow sugar.
It’s got onlythree ingredients.
And it’s called eitherplaydough, play dough or play-doh. (Lol – I can never work it out…)
Most of the edible play dough recipes that I found on the internet called for copious amounts of powdered sugar; more than what I was comfortable with. So I came up with this modified recipe.
- 1 Cup instant milk powder
- 1 Cup smooth peanut butter
- 1 Tbsp honey
Or actually double that as I made two batches, one for each child. These quantities are approxiate – adjust until the dough looks and feels about right.I also included small amounts of sprinkles, pearls, choc chips, stars for decorations. (I figured the sugar in these was worth the “bang for buck”).
Despite how it looks at first glance, I’m still going to call this recipe healthy-ish. There are no artificial colours or flavours (including in the sprinkles – as I chose brands that don’t contain these additives). The dough is high in protein, fat and calcium (all of which are great for my skinny and still growing kids), and only contains marginal sugar from the peanut butter. You could easily reduce the sugar content further by choosing a no added sugar peanut butter (and of course, by omitting the sprinkly ‘decorations’).
And how did it taste?To be honest, I was expecting it to taste only so-so. But I was wrong.It tastes a bit like peanut butter fudge. Totally more-ish. Nom nom nom.
But at the end of the day, this is a playdough recipe, not a dessert. It’s designed to be mixed, moulded and squished. It’s designed to be tasted, but not eaten by the bowlful. (Note to self to remember that last point next time).
And the best bit is that thekids can make it from scratch themselves. Measuring out quantities is excellent early maths practise and mixing it all together is all part of the sensory experience.
This is the first time that my toddler Bee (then 16 months old) has been involved in making play dough in the kitchen. She loved it! She stood in her shabby chic wooden high chair with her very own bowl. She spent a long time just touching, mixing, poking, squishing and tasting. After a while she gravitated to the novelty toothpicks and stuck them in to make a little echidna.
Meanwhile, JJ (my then 3 year and 8 month old preschooler) and I had fun making an ice cream, a Daddy, a Mummy, playing with some of our cookie cutters and sneaking a taste every now and again.
I bought allof the accessory items efrom either our local grocery store or discount shop. Thecute lion, zebra and butterfly cookiecutters that we used as stampers above are fromthisset of animal cookie cutters and thisEaster cookie cutter set (both affiliate links*).
Lots of fun for everyone!
For more squishy sensory play, here are some of our other ideas. (Click on the image to go through to the full post).
These, and other fun ideas are all over on our Play Ideas page.
And are you following us on Pinterest? We pin lots of great ideas over there as well.
xx Danya
*An affiliate link means I may earn a referral fee or commission if youmake apurchase through my link, without any extra cost to you. Fees like this helps to keep this little blog afloat. Thanks for your support.
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14 Comments
Wow! We're not really a peanut butter loving family (except hubby!) but this is really cool! 🙂
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Danya Banya
#You know what Bek, I reckon you could do it with Nutella too. (But I'm pretending I didn't think that because my Nutella addiction doesn't need to know that is a possibility…)
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Ha ha, love Bee's face. Wow this is different, my 2 year old would have a field day eating this 🙂
My recent post Pumpkin and herb damperReply
Danya Banya
#haha, yeah, she loved it. 🙂
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laughing kids learn
#OH WOW! This looks so delicious and lots of fun. This is on my list of things to do.
My recent post Water BeadsReply
I am so happy to have found this recipe (via pinterest)! I've been making a lot of salt dough with my kiddos lately, but my toddler keeps eating it and I know it's disgusting…so this is the perfect solution. Funny coincidence though, his nickname is Bee. two bees, cute!
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Danya Banya
#Oh another Bee! Hope he enjoys it!
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So awesome! I am most definitely going to give this a try. Just need to get myself some powdered milk and we will be in business. I think this might be the perfect activity for tomorrow.
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Danya Banya
#Thanks Kylez – hope the kids have fun!!!!
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SNKitchen
#I am certain my kids need something like this in their lives…I might need to find a peanut butter substitute but such a great idea. Thank you! Found you via FFF.
My recent post Wagon wheels with a differenceReply
What a brilliant idea! I've pinned this to try with my boys later this week. Thank you for linking up with us for Fabulous Foodie Fridays, see you next week 🙂
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Jules
#is there any way to make "edible dough" without ANY milk or dairy substitutes? My daughter is allergic to milk, soy, almonds and eggs!!!
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Danya Banya
#Hi Jules. What about using something like baby rice cereal instead of milk powder? Experiment and see! There are also lots of ways to make play dough that is 'safe to taste', but not necessarily all that 'yummy'. An easy (although crumbly and a bit messy) dough is cornflour (aka cornstarch) + any sort of cooking oil. xx
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