Plane Dough

It is a very rainy Sunday today, so I thought it was a perfect opportunity to let Norah make some play dough (or as she likes to call it "plane dough"). Thanks, A for your recipe.*

Now, I am more of what you would call an 'eye-baller' than someone who actually measures ingredients and Norah is quickly learning to follow my lead. When she liked a particular ingredient (oh, say salt or vegetable oil) and shouted "more!" I couldn't resist her enthusiasm and so we added more. I think by the end we added about a cup more flour than the recipe called for just to even things out.

The food coloring was exclusively her domain and we started out with blue and ultimately ended up with a brownish-green.


The heat was on very, very low but I couldn't get her to stop touching the pan or alternatively, from resting her hand on the side of the stove very close to the burner. I reminded her probably 9,000 times to not hurt herself. Finally I snapped at her and said, 'FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP TOUCHING THE PAN.'

This is what ensued.

I took a picture of her crying because I snapped at her (she rarely has tantrums-knock on wood-but when she goes I take a picture of her. Once she's calmed down we have a good laugh about how silly it is to throw a tantrum over inconsequential stuff). Then I felt like a giant asshole because, as it turns out, she was crying because she really had burned her hand. She sat on her stool, got 12 billion kisses and some ice, and was totally fine within 30 seconds. I actually don't think she burned herself as much as she touched the pot and it felt hot. As an aside, like her dinosaur pj top and giraffe bottoms? Guess who got her dressed for bed last night?

She then said, "Mom, take a picture of me crying" and proceeded to do some fake crying. She stopped pretty quickly because, "I can't make tears right now."

The finished product. It took quite a bit of kneading to get it into workable shape.

But it was a huge hit.


We mostly made snakes and balls.

And then measured them.

And constructed snowmen.

And requested to stand on the table in order to make footprints (I was still feeling a little bad about the burn thing).


She has already requested to take the plane dough to Ruby's tomorrow, which is always my gauge of whether a project is a success or not.

*1 cup water
1-2 tsp food coloring
2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup salt
2 Tbsp oil
1 cup flour

Place all ingredients except for flour into a sauce pan over low heat. Stir in flour as mixture heats up. At this point you may need to remove from heat. Keep stirring until mixture starts looking dry. Pinch a piece between two fingers and if it's not sticky, it's done. Dump onto counter, knead and let cool. Store in a plastic bag or container.