Magic and Mayhem

This week’s theme at Unplug Your Kids is fruit, so I thought it would be fun to make watermelon playdough.

This is a craft that is great for Sensory Integration work (with the bumps, the scent, the squishing and the warmth when you first make it) and it’s just plain fun.

Steps…

1.  Save watermelon seeds, rinse and bake until dried and slightly darkened.  We did this since it’s supposed to keep birdseed from sprouting and we didn’t want sprouted seeds in our playdough.  It’s a bit of a science experiment to see if it will work!  Last time we used black beads but I wanted to go for realism!

2.  Mix 1 cup flour, ½ cup salt, 1 cup water, 2 Tablespoons oil, 2 teaspoons Cream of Tartar and 1 (3 ½ ounce) package watermelon jello in a saucepan.  We didn’t have watermelon (I never buy jello but people always seem to give me enough that I have a perpetual stash for crafts) so we used strawberry.  Any red variety will give you the right color, though it might smell a bit different.  Koolaid should also work.

3.  Cook over medium heat until it thickens into a ball that pulls away from the side of the pan, stirring constantly (about 5 minutes).

4.  Dump onto a floured surface and cool until you can touch it.  Dump watermelon seeds on and knead well.

5.  Play!  Store in an airtight container.  We keep ours in a ziplock bag in the fridge and it lasts a very long time.

Note:  This won’t taste good since there’s no sugar but it’s nontoxic in case anybody tries to lick it!