A fresh batch of peppermint play dough is only a few ingredients away, and it’s so inviting, I can hardly keep my kids away!
My top three Christmas sweets are: peppermint bark, gingerbread cookies, and Bailey’s hot chocolate.
What are yours?
In anticipation of all the yummy treats sure to come this Christmas, I made a batch of delicious-smelling peppermint play dough for my girls to make candy cane cookies… and other creations!
The peppermint is also great for stuffy noses. I was feeling a little stuffy before playing with the play dough, and after, I felt more cleared up.
Was it really the play dough? I’m not 100% sure, but I definitely think the peppermint did help!
Looking for an organized guide of fun, easy activities to do with your toddler that also encourages their growth and development?
I’ve created a 3-month activity planner just for busy parents like you! The plan includes 65 detailed, simple, and stress-free activities including: arts and crafts, sensory play, motor skills, and STEM–all using easy-to-find supplies.
Let me help make planning activities for your toddler easy, so you can skip the stress and get straight to the fun!
How to Make Peppermint Play Dough
Have you ever made play dough? There are a lot of different methods out there, but my current favorite is the one below using the boiling water method.
You’ll want to measure the ingredients carefully. I’ve tried to “eyeball it” and ended up with play dough that was too sticky or too tough!
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups of flour (I used the cheapest I could find)
- 1 1/4 cups of salt (this keeps the dough from being too sticky)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp cream of tartar (keeps the dough fresh)
- 2 tsp peppermint extract
- 1/3 cup oil
- 2 1/2 cups of boiling hot water
- food coloring
Just mix the dry ingredients together as your water boils. Then add the oil, extract, and boiling water.
Stir until the dough forms, then set it aside to cool.
Finally, divide into as many colors as you want to make, and knead in your food coloring. We kept one natural and dyed the other red.
Food coloring will stain, so be careful. Once it’s incorporated with the dough, it will no longer stain, though.
Playing with Peppermint Play Dough
Elena, my 3-year-old, loves to make play dough cookies.
After spending a good minute with her eyes closed inhaling the peppermint-scented play dough, she started making her candy cane cookies.
I try to join in on the play dough action every now and then, and today it was too hard to resist!
I made the rolled and twisted candy cane in the first picture above, and Elena used a candy cane cookie cutter to make her cookie.
She then pinched off bits of white play dough to stick on top of the red candy cane.
Working with play dough like this, whether it’s rolling, squeezing, or pinching, really helps kids strengthen their hand muscles.
Strong hands are better able to do all kinds of fine motor work, such as coloring, writing, using a spoon, or zipping up jackets.
A year ago, I noticed a spike in Elena’s interest in coloring after we started doing more fine motor exercises like playing with play dough. It makes me wonder if her hands weren’t quite strong enough to hold and color with a crayon before the fine motor work.
Or, she probably just wasn’t interested before.
Toddlers are mysterious creatures.
Will You Make Peppermint Play Dough?
Homemade play dough keeps for quite a while. We store ours in heavy duty zip-top bags and keep them all in a bin with our play dough tools.
Feel free to print the recipe. I know for me personally, if I print a copy of a recipe I want to try and keep it on the fridge, I’m 99% more likely to actually do it!
Let me know how it turns out!
Peppermint Play Dough
Supplies
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 1/4 cup salt
- 1 1/2 tbsp cream of tartar
- 2 tsp peppermint extract
- 1/3 cup oil
- 2 1/2 cups water
- Food coloring
Instructions
- Bring water to a boil.
- Mix the dry ingredients together in a heat-proof bowl.
- Once water is boiling, carefully pour it into the bowl with the dry ingredients.
- Add in the oil and peppermint extract.
- Stir until the dough starts to form. Set aside to cool.
- Divide the dough into as many colors as you want. Then knead in the food coloring.
Looking for an organized guide of fun, easy activities to do with your toddler that also encourages their growth and development?
I’ve created a 3-month activity planner just for busy parents like you! The plan includes 65 detailed, simple, and stress-free activities including: arts and crafts, sensory play, motor skills, and STEM–all using easy-to-find supplies.
Let me help make planning activities for your toddler easy, so you can skip the stress and get straight to the fun!