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Grab a barrel full of old-fashioned pop with the frothy, full-bodied textures of root beer and vanilla play dough! Remember A&W root beer floats as a kid? Today’s invitation to create with homemade scented play dough explores creamy textures, classic sensory play, and rich scented sweetness.
Root Beer Play Dough Recipe:
- 1 cup flour (we use gluten-free flour – brown rice or a mixture)
- 1 T cream of tartar
- 1/2 cup salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil (we use avocado oil)
- 1 cup water
- Root Beer Candy Flavoring
- Brown Gel Icing or Food Coloring or Liquid Water Colors (our new, safer favorite!)
Vanilla Play Dough Recipe: (same as above; omit root beer flavor & food coloring)
- Vanilla Extract
Root Beer Play Materials:
- Large Mugs
- Ice Cream Scoop
- Spoons
- Bowls
- Paper Straws
- Dough Rollers & Cutters (optional)
A root beer float wouldn’t be a float without vanilla whip cream play dough. Although it looks yummy enough to slurp down, please don’t! It’s all food ingredients, but not intended for eating purposes.
Instructions:
- In a heavy saucepan, mix together the flour, cream of tartar, and salt.
- Add the water and oil and place the saucepan over medium heat. Add root beer candy flavoring and food coloring or gel. I wanted the brown to be very dark, so I added 1-2 drops of black food coloring. Not necessary, but if using the brown gel or food coloring, it may be a little lighter.
- Stir continuously until the dough starts to thicken. At 3 minutes it will still be runny; 6 minutes it will begin to stick to spoon and saucepan; continue stirring and pulling the dough off the sides of the pan; 8-9 minutes it will form into a tacky, slightly shiny ball. Once this happens, it’s ready.
- Remove from heat and let it cool on wax paper or foil for 15-20 minutes. Be sure to test the center of the dough to ensure it’s cool enough before giving it to children.
- Repeat for the vanilla play dough, omitting the food coloring and root beer candy flavoring. Instead, just add vanilla extract. Above is one batch of each flavor.
Once your doughs are made, it’s time to explore and create! Simply, add ice cream scoopers, spoons, bowls, dough cutters and rollers, cake decorating tips (we omitted later), and mugs. This is not a sponsored post. But, aren’t these A&W root beer mugs fantastic?!
Add stripped paper straws and ice cream scoopers for a completely old-fashioned experience. The vanilla play dough severs as the ice cream and whip cream for the root beer floats.
To make the whip cream swirl we used a Play-Doh EZ Molder. No tools? Just roll it out like a worm and bend it.
There’s endless possibilities for scenting play dough inexpensively with candy flavoring. The scents reminded me of frothy, delicious root beer floats! C began rolling out his root beer play dough using straws, ladles, and a whisk to explore.
Barrels of fun, right? Homemade play dough is so easy to make and it’s a great sensory activity for kids.
Add some kid-scissors for cutting practice and fun. C couldn’t get enough of the straws –big hit! He cut every straw and proceeded to make ‘sprinkles’ with them.
He loved the ice cream scoop too! The creamy texture and rush of vanilla really enhanced his play experience.
Who new paper straws would be so fun? Our simple and fragrant sensory dough creates a fun invitation to create and explore. He’s really getting into doughs lately, so we’ll be experimenting with new scents!
The play dough was so soft; it created textured swirl marked on the mugs.
Here’s C’s final root beer vanilla float play dough creations! He ventured back in time to explore sensory and pretend play with the classic scents and frothy textures of root beer floats!
What’s your favorite childhood drink?
Looking for more play recipes? Here’s a few of our favorites:
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This is so cool!!!!
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thank you!! 🙂 How are things?
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Loving this — esp using the ice cream scoop and cutting up the straws. We actually made Root Beer Float cupcakes this week, so that gives you an idea of how much my little one is going to LOVE this playdough.
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Thank you Jennifer. 🙂 🙂 It’s our favorite to date! Cupcakes sound SO fun!!
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Oh my goodness, this is genius!! Thanks so much for sharing on my #SensorySunday share day! Pinning and Tweeting this one!!
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How adorable and looks real and delicious! I bet they smell good , too. You are so creative!
Great job !! I know your little boy must have had lots of fun playing with this fun activity!
Kim ~ This Ole Mom
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Thanks Kim. Yes, it smelled lovely! My hands smelled of root beer and vanilla all morning! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
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Oh, how fun!! Root beer floats are one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!
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Thanks Carrie! Me too! Thanks for your comments and hosting. 🙂
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This looks too fun!
Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!
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Thanks Jill. We had fun. 🙂
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This is fantastic! My son LOVES rootbeer floats. Will be trying this ASAP! Thanks for sharing at After School!
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Thank you so much Boy Mama Teacher Mama. Thanks for hosting too. 🙂
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Looks totally real! I didn’t know that there is a root beer flavoring until now. Well, I didn’t know there is such a thing as root beer before I moved to US 🙂
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Hi Natalie. Thank you!! I didn’t know until recently and I was so excited too. Fun, where are you from? 🙂
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What a great idea and it looks so effective.
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thank you! 😉
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These look so real! What a super fun activity, and what a fun excuse to have a root bear float after playtime 🙂
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Thank you Clarissa! You read my mind! 😉
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