pumpkin spice playdough

I'm tired of complaining about how hot it is. I'm just going to zone out and dive headfirst into the pumpkin madness and pretend it's fall. Step one was this pumpkin spice playdough. Actually, no, step one was the pumpkin pancakes for breakfast this morning. Step two would be this pumpkin spice playdough. It smells absolutely amazing. I initially worried about Ethan wanting to eat it, but I don't think he's the one I need to worry about. My husband already had to talk me down once from just trying a teeny-tiny bit. Pumpkin insanity aside, this playdough is awesome and such a sensory delight! I gave Ethan a big ball of it with some cookie cutters and a batter scraper (more commonly referred to as a "playdough cutter" in our house) and he went nuts making so many awesome things.

For this recipe, you'll need: 1c flour, 1/2c salt, 1c water, 1 tbsp vegetable oil, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 3 teaspoons cream of tartar, cloves, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and food coloring (we mixed red and yellow since I didn't have any straight orange). The Walgreens "Nice" brand of oils, flours, etc. are my favorite for play purposes. You can't beat the price and the sizes are better than the cheap brands at the dollar store. For the spices, I didn't measure -- I just kind of based it off how delicious it smelled. Same for the food coloring -- I just kept mixing until it was the desired shade of orange.

First, you mix all the dry ingredients together in a saucepan.

From there, add the liquid ingredients and combine. Heat the stove to medium heat and continue to stir the playdough together for 4-5 minutes until it stiffens.

After the playdough is thick enough to ball together, place it onto a floured surface and knead it until smooth.