Using common household ingredients, you can make your own homemade play dough in no time at all. This dough is just as good as the store-bought stuff and it will provide hours of rolling, shaping and kneading fun.

Microwave play dough

MAKE IT IN: 10 minutes

BOREDOM BUSTER: One time activity (but you can make it again and again)

ACTIVITY LEVEL: ★★★

Things you need:

•Microwave-safe bowl with lid (if you don’t have a lid you can cover the bowl with plastic wrap/clingfilm)

•1 cup (120 g) all-purpose (plain) flour

•1⁄2 cup (120 g) salt

•2 tsp cream of tartar

•1 cup (240 ml) water

•1 tbsp vegetable oil

•Food coloring (you could also use powdered fruit drink crystals for a scented/colorful play dough)

•Wooden spoon

•Airtight container

1. Measure and pour the flour, salt, and cream of tartar into a microwave-safe bowl. Stir everything together well with a spoon.

2. Mix in the water and oil, add 4 drops of food coloring, and then stir again.

3. Put the lid on the bowl (or cover with plastic wrap/clingfilm) and ask an adult to help you to microwave on high for 2 minutes.

4 Carefully take the bowl out of the microwave. Take the lid or plastic wrap/cling film off the bowl carefully so that you don’t get burnt by any hot steam. Stir with a spoon. Return the bowl to the microwave for another 30 seconds on high. If the play dough is still sticky, microwave it again for another 30 seconds. Let it cool.

5 Knead and play! What does the play dough feel like? Is it hard? Soft? Wet? Dry? When you’re done playing, store the play dough in an airtight container. To help clean up the bowl, soak it in water for a while before cleaning.

More microwave play dough ideas:

Make shapes (circles, squares, triangles, hearts); animals (dog, caterpillar, elephant, snake); letters and numbers (ABC, 123); objects (snowman, car, house, blocks, happy face); and pretend play (pretend you are cooking, cutting, and serving foods like pizza, apples, pasta).

Guess What… Cream of tartar

Cream of tartar is a white, crystal powder. It comes from countries where wine is made. The crystals are formed naturally in wine barrels after grape juice has fermented into wine. Cream of tartar has no smell and tastes acidic. It is an ingredient in baking powder.

Our friends at Thomas Allen Ltd. have generously offered us three copies of Caroline Fernandez’s Boredom Busters for giveaway. For your chance to win, email submissions@cityline.ca and share how you keep the kids entertained during March Break! Be sure to include your contact info including a daytime phone number, and include “Boredom Busters” in the email subject line. Good luck! Contest closes Friday, March 14, 2014, 10am.

Excerpts and images from Boredom Busters by Caroline Fernandez. CICO Kidz, $18.95. Excerpted by permission of the publisher. Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved.