We love homemade playdough here at Childhood 101 Central and I am always looking for fun ways to enhance the sensory play potential of the next batch of dough. We’ve added rice for texture, glitter for sparkle, homemade berry dye for colour, and so much more! And this time I think I may just have found the easiest way to add lovely, rich scent to homemade playdough…
…it certainly passes the toddler sniff test!
So what’s the secret ingredient?
HERBAL TEA!
I simply brewed a strong batch of herbal tea (two cups of water to three tea bags) and used it in exchange of the water in my regular homemade playdough recipe, which you can find here. In this case I used a Cranberry, Raspberry and Strawberry blend and the scent was magnificent. We have also experimented with a Lemon and Ginger blend and Peppermint herbal teas – these scents have been just as lovely and fragrant but not quite as strong. I would imagine the end result depends upon the natural qualities of the tea’s ingredients and the strength of the individual brand of tea – play around with the number of bags you use until you find a result you love.
Whichever blend you choose, Immy tells me that scented playdough is perfect for making embellished star lollipops…
… and AJ just loves sticking things in it!
Do you make homemade playdough? Have you experimented with adding different scents or other sensory elements?
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Christie Burnett is an early childhood teacher, presenter, writer and the editor of Childhood 101. More importantly, she is a Mum who believes wholeheartedly in the value of children learning through play, the importance of quality early education, and the togetherness of family.
