It’s wonderful to watch your child’s delight as they discover the wonderful world of weird textures and how much enjoyment everyday ingredients can provide.

Playdough

Playdough must be one of the oldest recipes in the book. Generations of mums have made it for their kids to squish, mould, squeeze, rip, roll and generally mess about with. There’s something unique about its textural sensation that makes playdough a hit with kids of all ages.

The great thing about playdough is it’s very easy to make. Put three cups of plain flour into a large bowl and add one and a half cups of salt and six teaspoons of cream of tartar. Stir together, then add three tablespoons of cooking oil and three cups of boiling water. You can add food colouring to make different colours too.

Stir the mixture well until it leaves the side of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes until it has that distinctive silky, stretchy playdough texture.

Other fun doughs

There are other options for fun textures like cloud playdough. This is a firm, oily playdough with a rubbery texture that shreds as it’s stretched. You make it by mixing together six cups of plain flour, a cup of cooking oil and about a cup of water to bind the mixture together. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes until it gets a wonderful rubbery texture.

Moulding dough is good if you want to keep your playdough creations or make some decorations for Christmas, Easter or grandparents. Mix together two cups of plain flour, half a cup of salt and half a cup of water then knead well.

Your children can make shapes, handprints, footprints, decorations and so on. If you want your decorations to hang, make the holes before baking. Bake this playdough at a very low temperature (around 120^oC) for three to four hours. It can then be painted and varnished to complete the picture.

Other gloopy, gloppy stuff

If you fancy pushing the boundaries a bit try making some foam. Just put one or two cups of soap flakes, like Lux, into a large bowl. Add enough hot water to cover the flakes, then beat the mixture until the soap flakes dissolve and it becomes soft and foamy, like shaving foam. One of those turn-the-handle egg beaters is ideal for this. Leave it in the bowl and give your child some plastic containers so they can fill, pour and generally play with this weird texture.

You can also use soap flakes to make slime. Dissolve a cup of soap flakes in four cups of hot water in a large bucket using a wire whisk or egg beater. Leave the mixture to stand for at least an hour and you have perfect slime. You can pour it and if you beat it, the slime will froth up.

Another old favourite is gloop. Put two cups of cornflour into a bowl. Add a cup of cold water slowly, stirring all the time. The cornflour will mix in with the water to give that unique squeezable liquid sensation. The great thing about gloop is that it can be scooped up and moulded in your hands or plastic containers, but it always flows back into the bowl.

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