How to Make Fast-Drying Homemade Play Clay

Kids love to play with clay. It is a squishy substance with which kids can get creative with and make whatever they want. Clay can be bought many ways from a store, but why not make your very own homemade clay? Making the clay can be a part of the fun and it can be a great learning experience for a child and their loving adult.

Making clay is a good project to do with a child but especially on a rainy day. It is pretty simple to make and not too expensive.

To make your own home made clay take two tablespoons of cooking oil, two tablespoons of cream of tartar, one cup of salt and four cups of flour. Put them into a pan and mix all the ingredients together well with a wooden spoon.

After you have stirred the ingredients together well add four cups of water slowly as you stir. You can pour the water as the child does the stirring.

After that the adult has to take over. Cook the ingredients over a medium heat giving it a good stir every so often until the mixture is thick enough to form a ball that is not sticky.

If you wish you can work in some food coloring at this point and then let the whole mixture cool off. If you are careful and you want different colors of clay from the same batch you can put the mixture into separate heat resistance containers before you mix in the food colors.

When it is cool then you can give it to the kids to play with. This clay dries faster then typical store bought clay so if the kids want to make a work of art and let it dry they can.

If you don't want the clay to dry be sure to put it in an air tight container when it is finished being played with.

To keep the clay fresh for a long time you can store it in the refrigerator in an air tight container.

This clay is great for kids to play with. You can make a double batch for a birthday party. Just put a glob of the home made clay into small air tight containers and give one to each child at a birthday party. Then the party guest can take home a small container of clay when they go back home.