School holiday fun: How to make play dough in your slow cooker

Slow cookers can be a help in the kitchen when it comes to feeding your kids - but it turns out you can use the appliance to entertain them as well.

One mum has discovered you can make the "softest and smoothest" play dough in under an hour in the slow cooker, reports the Daily Mail.

And with school holidays upon us, what better time than to whip up some homemade play dough for the kids on a rainy day?

Combine the wet and dry ingredients thoroughly in the bowl of your slow cooker. Photo / Slow Cooker Recipe & Tips, Facebook

The woman shared her method on the Slow Cooker Recipe & Tips Facebook page, revealing that the used the typical play dough ingredients: flour, salt, cream of tartar, water, oil and blue food colouring.

She hadn't made play dough in the slow cooker before - but she was thrilled with the results.

Play dough helps kids get creative, develops their fine motor skills, enhances hand-eye coordination - and it's a lot of fun.

When the play dough forms a ball and doesn't stick to the slow cooker, it's ready. Photo / Slow Cooker Recipe & Tips, Facebook

The woman shared the recipe and a handy tip to find out whether the dough is ready, saying it's time to take it out of the slow cooker when it no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl.

"You can test this by taking a small amount out, form into a ball and cool in the freezer for a few minutes," she wrote.

"When it's ready this won't stick to your fingers when you handle it. This small test ball can then be returned to the mix."

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After reading the recipe online, other parents couldn't believe they hadn't thought of the method before, with one writing: "Wow I have never done play dough in a slow cooker. You may have just changed my life!"

"Awesome, this is much better than the old method," another said.

How to make play dough in a slow cooker

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
4 tbsp cream of tartar
2 cups water
2 tbsp oil
1-2 tsp food colouring

Method:

Combine flour, salt and cream of tartar in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine the water, oil and food colouring.

Pour the dry ingredients into the slow cooker, add the wet ingredients and combine thoroughly.

Place a tea towel under the lid and cook on high for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring frequently for the first half hour, then once or twice for the remaining time.

The dough is ready when it forms and no longer sticks to the sides of the slow cooker.