Colorful non-toxic clay for parent-child fun

Mandy’s kitchen has nothing much—except for flour, lots of it. To keep the triplets from staring at the TV non-stop, she had to pull out her secret weapon (*^o^*). The “Super Dad” enrichment course has started, which also means Mandy has to single-handedly hold the fort every weekend @@~ Ah), truly dreading it, I’m about to lose it again!! On weekdays, the eldest, Nicole, follows a regular schedule—classes at 8 AM, home by 5 PM. With a structured school routine, she never has idle time to get bored. But the moment it’s a holiday, as soon as Nicole opens her eyes, she starts whining to me about being bored!! And then she’ll definitely say she wants to “watch TV”~~~~~

Without Super Dad around to help, sometimes when things get busy, Mandy throws in the towel and lets the TV babysit for a while. But Mandy knows the outcome will be disastrous—because the twin girls will just follow along and watch, and it’ll go on forever!! So early in the morning, they made a deal with Nicole: she had to play with her sister first, let mommy finish the housework, and once that was done, mommy would conjure up some “clay” for her!! Nicole immediately widened her eyes and asked: Mommy, did you buy some!? Where is it, where is it? (She got super excited and started jumping around) No way!! Mommy will make it for you in a bit!!Let’s follow Mandy and start making safe, non-toxic clay^^
Ingredients:
600g all-purpose flour (or bread flour is fine, low-gluten flour not recommended), 1 tbsp salt, 2 tbsp liquid oil, 320–350g water (Note: Absorption varies by brand, so reserve about 30cc of water and add it gradually once the dough starts to come together to avoid stickiness)
Coloring materials: red food powder / green matcha powder / yellow turmeric powder / black bamboo charcoal powder / use about 1 tbsp of each powder for color
(Mandy prefers natural ingredients, so she doesn’t like using food coloring. Of course, those who don’t mind can still use it, or you can use vegetable juices like spinach, pumpkin, or beetroot—they’re all natural colorants. But if you add liquid ingredients to change the color, you’ll need to adjust the moisture level accordingly.) Method: Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl, slowly knead into a smooth, powder-free dough (reserve 30cc of water to add gradually). Divide the dough evenly into six parts, add the coloring material to each, and knead until the color is uniform (patience is key!). Alrighty~ The dough is finally ready, time to get those triplet fingers moving UpY≠〕?? They’re usually just “decorating” the scene—the twin girls just hang around and knead the dough a little, while Nicole actually gets to work with Mandy to shape strawberries, peaches, and apples.

Panda (the one on the right was made by Nicole, the red heart is her creative touch^^)

Turtle (top-down view)

This clay playtime kept the triplets entertained for the whole afternoon. Nicole even asked if she could take her creations to show her teacher and classmates, so Mandy baked them to preserve them better (if you’d like to keep your creations too, bake them at a low temperature of about 120-130°C for about 15 minutes to harden the surface).

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