Home made Play Dough

Following the recent rise in interest rates and all the news about over-spending and predictions that 2007 is to be the Year of Thrift, here at Landcroft House, we are definitely tightening our belts. One of the key areas of our unnecessary spending is toys that get played with for 5 minutes. There is a ban on all toy buying, even stickers, until Scrap's birthday in April. We start our new plan with home-made play dough with which we mostly made snakes, cabbages and fried eggs.

200g flour
100g table salt
200ml warm water
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tbsp vegetable oil
few drops of scented oil
few drops of food colouring

Place all the ingredients in a pan and heat gently, beating with a wooden spoon until it forms a ball. Tip out and knead until it cools. It should last for ages - the salt ensures that it doesn't go off but it will eventually dry out. Keep in an air-tight box or wrap in film and store in the fridge.