How to Save Money on Play-Doh Fun

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

11 May 2009 04:35 AM

Kids just love play-doh, much to the despair of many a mom who dreads the chance of the play-doh crumbs getting in the carpet or elsewhere around the house. This is why I think of spring and summer as play-doh season, since a small table out in the garage, driveway or backyard eliminates the mess.

The other detriment to play-doh, is that it can be expensive after a while, especially when kids mix up all of the colors or let it dry out. The play-doh kits that you buy that feature all of the neat tools are more expenses. But there are ways to save money on play-doh. Here are some tips.

Look for Party Packs

Play-doh comes in many different forms of packaging. There are different sizes of cans and different promotional packaging that comes around. When shopping for play-doh, don't just grab the first package you see. Look through the shelves and compare the prices based on how many ounces of the stuff you can get. Very often, seasonal party packs can be the least expensive, but this isn't always the case.

Make your own

There are many wonderful recipes out there for homemade play-doh (play dough) or modeling clay. Making your own will save you quite a bit of cost, and you can make the colors to your kids request. There are cooked and no cook versions. Here is one I got from the following website that works well. http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Playdough-Play-doh/ Look for the recipe in the comments section.

3 cups four 1/3 cup salt 2 tbsp oil (veg) 1 cup water 7 drops food coloring.

"Mix dry ingredients with oil. add food coloring to water and mix together. add water to flour/salt/oil mixture slowly~about 1/4 cup at a time and mix together with a spoon. once you've added all the water, knead the dough with your hands."

Assemble inexpensive Play-Doh tools

There is really no need to buy all of the fancy tools. Just look around your kitchen to come up with so many different things that the kids can use. If you don't want them touching your household things, just visit a thrift store or dollar store and load up on things such as plastic knives and forks, scissors, pasta measures, cookie scoops, cookie cutters, etc.

Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right.

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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