DIY Peppermint Scented Play Dough (great gift idea, too!)

Our kids love play dough. We play with it at least 4-5 times every week. We have our big, organized play dough box that we keep in the pantry and when we have ten minutes to spare, we pull it out. (If we have an hour to spare, even better!  I’ve recently added plastic plates and candles to our play-dough box, so they LOVE to make pretend cakes!)

Anyways, in the fall, we made Pumpkin Pie Play Dough and our kids loved it!   For Christmas, I decided that we needed to make DIY Peppermint Scented Play Dough.

It was pretty easy to do, so here you go:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup salt
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups water
• 1 Tablespoon cream of tartar
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
• 1Tablespoon peppermint extract (you could use peppermint essential oil, too)
• Optional~ Red food coloring
• Optional~ to make it really bright red, add a little red kool-aid powder  (it is pretty even when it is white & even prettier when it is white with glitter… see below)

How to make it:
1. Mix the salt, cream of tartar and the flour in a pot on the stove.
2. Add the peppermint extract, oil & water to the pot.
3. Stir the mixture over medium heat for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  You may need up to 5 minutes.
4. When the dough starts to form into a ball, you want to remove it from the heat.
5. Knead it until it is smooth (If you have a kitchen aid mixer, just use the kneading tool/wand and turn it on).
6. Add the red (or green) food coloring now and knead it some more.  You may want to add more peppermint oil/extract at this point, depending on how strong you want it to be.
7. Store it in an air-tight container or in a plastic storage bag.

~If you want to add a little bit of Christmas Magic-  add a big handful of glitter after its made.  Knead it in or throw it back into your mixer with the kneading tool turned on. 

TIP 1- it will be PINK unless you do this little trick: Add just a touch of red kool-aid to the mix.  This is what made it have its bright red color.

TIP 2- YOU COULD ALSO JUST BUY REGULAR RED PLAY-DOUGH & ADD THE PEPPERMINT. 🙂

PS- How I organize my play dough
ps- Fall Pumpkin Pie Play dough