The best way to keep your cool on a hot summer afternoon is to make sure those little hands are busy doing something productive! It isn't always the easiest thing to come up with a new and interesting project, so once in awhile when you feel like you just want to escape, pulling some ready-made dough out of the refrigerator can really save the day. This dough, called baker's clay can be baked and painted afterwards, but the idea here is to create without worrying about the outcome— to roll and pound and shape for the sake of learning how to sculpt! Get out the rolling pin, cookie cutters, forks and any other kitchen tools and let them have fun. If you happen to have a piece of styrofoam, you can make sculptures by attaching pieces of dough to the base and to each other with toothpicks and pieces of toothpicks. The dough can be colored with food coloring, beet juice and mildly tinted with spices like paprika and turmeric.
Recipe:
4 cups white flour
1 cup salt
1 1/2 cups water or as necessary to make soft dough
Mix all ingredients in bowl. If the dough is too dry work in extra water with hands.
Color by dividing and adding coloring agent of choice to each portion. Roll, mold and sculpt as
desired.
Flat cookie like items can be easily baked:
Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet (or with baking paper) for 1 hour in 300 degree oven. Watch the progress of the baking, you may need to turn down the oven and bake longer and sometimes the dough bubbles and you don't want it to burn. You may need to turn the shapes over during the baking process. Remove and
cool. When done, sand lightly if desired and paint.
Note: You can halve this recipe but do not double it. Dough should be used within 4 hours as it tends to dry out. I have stored extra dough in the refrigerator with good results.
