We have discovered lately that it's really easy to dye homemade playdough with natural ingredients.

As well as creating some great playdough it’s also a lovely way to teach kids that some of the most beautiful dyes can be found in your own back yard.

You could use raspberries, blueberries (note: messy fun!), tumeric, rose petals, mint leaves, lavender, basil....whatever you like really.

Extracting the dye for Rose petals:

Roughly tear up the petals from about six red roses and put in pan with a cup of water. Bring to the boil then gently simmer on stove for 20 minutes (until liquid has reduced to about half). Once cooled pour through sieve then follow playdough recipe below.

Ingredients for playdough:

• ½ cup of flour, 
• ½ cup of dyed water, 
• ¼ cup of salt, 
• ½ tbsp cream of tartar, 
• ½ tbsp cooking oil

Making the playdough:

• Put the pan on a medium to low heat and keep stirring until mixture forms a ball. It will probably stick to the bottom and sides of the pan too!

Knead:

• Allow it to cool a little and knead it on a well floured worktop.

Hey Presto! Hours of fun with your own natural dyed playdough! This batch also makes wonderful pressies for Christmas and Birthdays for your Friends.