Home » Kids Activities » Book Extension Activities » Sweet Smell of Christmas Play Dough Recipe
Today we are kicking off some fun activities inspired by a children's Christmas books with a Christmas Play Dough Recipe. Just a note, affiliate links are used in this post.
Every since joining the Virtual Book Club for Kids group we have had SO much fun with book extension ideas. Today's activity is a taste safe play dough recipe that was inspired by the kids' Christmas book,The Sweet Smell of Christmas.
My 4 year old preschooler was crazy nuts for the cute scratch-n-sniff pages. I could barely read the text of the page before she was excitedly scratching the scented sticker.
The same week that we first read the book, my kids suddenly got WAY into play dough. My two year old toddler seriously spent every waking hour playing with play dough. I had to make him put it away to eat meals and snacks. There were tears! And this kid LOVES to eat.
So we have had fun making play dough and, in fact, the other time I made some recently was for a Pete the Cat Play Dough Activity! Books and Play dough, I never would have thought they go so hand in hand!
So I made one big batch of this taste-safe no salt play dough from Cathy James of NurtureStore. Cathy literally wrote the book on play doughs so when I read her post about no salt play dough I was totally on board. My son once licked play dough and probably due to the saltiness he had no desire to continue to explore it with his mouth BUT making food-like play dough, with food scents, I thought it made sense to make this one taste safe.
Sweet Smell of Christmas Play Dough Recipes
So once I made the batch of plain play dough, I started pulling off hunks to make the various scented items from the book. Here are the basics for each one.
I will note that I did NOT make a pine scented play dough for this. I was not too sure if pine oil should be consumed and since the the rest are taste safe I didn't want to risk it. When my daughter noticed there was no pine play dough I just folded up a green pipe cleaner to sort of resemble a pine branch and we went on playing.
Apple Pie– Add a generous splash of apple cider and a generous dash of cinnamon and knead them in. A few drops of yellow food coloring is optional. I thought it was going to wet but it worked itself out after a bit of kneading. Feel free to add flour if yours does not. Set it out with a small ramekin, silicone cupcake liner or other small dish. if desired, flatten into a circle and use fingernails to add the shapes to the crust.
Candy Cane– Place a peppermint candy cane between two plates (or using a mortar and pestle) and crushed it to a fine powder. Add that a table spoon of water and stir it up, then add it to a hunk of play dough. Add red food coloring to some of it, knead it in, then roll out the white and red to tube shapes and twist them together.
Gingerbread– Add a dash of nutmeg, a dash of cinnamon and roughly a teaspoon of molasses to a hunk of play dough. Knead it in and set it out with cookie cutters.
Hot Cocoa-Add cocoa powder a tablespoon at a time. Knead it in and determine if you want more. Set it out with a play mug.
Christmas Orange- Add a few drops of orange extract, several drops of yellow food coloring and a few drops of red food coloring. Knead it together and if desired use a toothpick to add texture and poke the stem hole.
Then it is time to read and play! My daughter liked adding the other ingredients to the pie. she also loved making the gingerbread man over and over!
If you haven't already readThe Sweet Smell of Christmas, we really enjoyed it. My toddler was less impressed but my preschooler loved it!
What is your favorite themed play dough recipe? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!
If you like this book you should also check out our Sweet Smell of Christmas Cloud Dough and Scratch n Sniff Water Color Ornaments!
Story Book Advent
For new Christmas book activities every day, head over to Rainy Day Mum to check out the Story Book Advent! So many inspiring Christmas books and SO many fin activity ideas are being shared!! Happy Holidays!
