THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 9, 1995 TAG: 9505090033
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: MOM, I'M BORED
SOURCE: Sherrie Boyer
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
WHEN THE SIDEWALK chalk crumbles, the children make me promise to fetch more at the store. The same is true for play dough. Both are necessary play ingredients, but you don't have to buy them.
You could make your own from scratch instead.
Now don't get the wrong idea. We have more tubs of authentic Play-Doh than we have grubby little hands to mold it with. And all of our chalk has come from a store. These recipes, though, are so tempting.
The play dough we've tried with success. It's very much like the real thing, only a little softer and a little stickier. It's easy and cheap to make, and you can probably do it with what you've got in the cupboard today. The ingredients are that basic.
The chalk we're eager to try. We are still gathering supplies. But friends who pass this recipe along say it is easy, wonderful stuff.
To make terrific play dough or salt dough, use a large saucepan and help your child measure into it: 1 cup flour, 1 (measure this accurately) tablespoon salad oil, 1 cup water, 1/2 cup salt and 2 teaspoons cream of tartar. If you want just one color of dough, add food coloring with the water. Pick a cool color, like lavender for spring - just follow mixing instructions on the food color box. Stir the ingredients.
You can easily double this recipe and be successful.
Use a wooden spoon over medium heat, stirring constantly so it won't stick for about five minutes. The mixture will be soupy, and then it will suddenly stick together and pull away from the pan. Remove it from the heat.
Stir it into a ball and dump the hot ball onto wax paper. Carefully, checking the temperature yourself, start kneading. Once it's cool - in just a few moments - the children can do the kneading themselves.
Don't knead it on your table or favorite cutting board, because the dye in the food coloring will spread.
If you are making several colors, divide the play dough and add the food coloring as you begin kneading. Dab the color all over the piece; otherwise it seems to take forever to work one little drop of color into a ball of white.
Knead the dough until it is smooth and pliable, or until you work the food coloring in - about two minutes.
Store it in an airtight container. You can refrigerate it (but it keeps fine without) or freeze some to use later.
Making sidewalk chalk sounds easier. You don't have to cook anything, so the children can help with every step, but because the ingredients are powders, take extra care to see that no one inhales any. Plastic gloves (found near paint supplies in the hardware store) are a great idea, as are dust masks and safety glasses.
While you raid the supply shelf in the basement, remember to raid the bathrooms upstairs. You'll need six to 12 empty toilet paper tubes.
As you save tubes, also save one washed tuna fish can and one washed Styrofoam egg carton.
Help your child to line the tubes with waxed paper and fold back the edges.
Very carefully, and this might be your job alone, attach the lined tubes, standing up, to the opened egg carton with a hot-glue gun. Now, you're ready to mix the chalk.
Using the tuna can as a measure, mix together 3 cans of patching plaster (use a spoon, don't touch with bare hands), 1 can plaster of Paris and 4 teaspoons powdered tempera colors. Add 2 cans cold water. Mix with a spoon. Then, using a teaspoon, pack the chalk into the tubes carefully so the tubes don't break off the egg carton.
It will take two days for the chalk to dry completely. But the result is a fat stick of homemade chalk that's as hard and colorful as any you'll buy.
True, this is almost more trouble than it's worth. Almost. And then again . by CNB