Hand Imprints With Homemade Playdough

We've had rain for 17 days straight here.  No, I'm not exaggerating.  Seriously it's been raining for over two weeks.  And many days, it has rained off and on all day.  While this rain is good in the fact that we're not in a drought like we were last year, it also means that we've been couped up in the house.

So, Moo has started up her "I'm Bored" song.  Trust me, she can sing that song for a very long time!  Last week I posted about our Arts & Crafts Bucket List and what better way to relieve some boredom around these parts than marking off a craft from our list?  Moo is absolutely nuts about playdough.  Therefore, I already knew she'd love the Hand Imprint With Homemade Playdough craft.

And I loved it because it only needs 3 ingredients-1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt and 1/4 cup water.  We did modify the recipe a little bit.  I found that using the 1/4 cup of water like the directions said wasn't enough.  All of our flour and salt didn't get wet enough. So, we upped our water to 1/3 cup and it was perfect.  However, I do recommend that you start off with 1/4 cup of water and then add more if you need it.  It could have just been the brand of flour and salt used.

With enough water in the mix, our playdough finally came together.  We did make two batches.  One for Moo, one for me.  I didn't want to take any chances on doubling everything, especially the liquid and mess it up.  Of course, we did roll our dough out and make our hand imprints right away.  We had to play around with it first.  We made shapes, letter and pretended to make our favorite foods.

Hard at work on her creation.

Once you're ready to get started on your imprints, simply roll out your dough.  You want to keep the dough a little thick because you'll be pressing your hand in it.  When it's at the desired thickness you like just press your hands down in the dough really good and remove.  If you're happy with the imprint flour a cookie sheet or line it with foil and place your dough in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for 3 full hours.

Moo's hand imprint

When our three hours were up, I just let the dough cool down with the oven overnight and removed them in the morning.  Then we pulled out our paint and got creative with the decorating our hands.  

I think I have an artist on my hands!

Now, we haven't had a day dry enough to coat them with a clear coat of spray paint yet.  However, once we have both sides sprayed down twice I want to mount them in frames and hang them on the wall.  So, if you're looking for a great weekend craft or an anytime craft, this is it.

Have you ever tried making homemade playdough?