For those of you who have tried it: did the food coloring stain the kids' hands? Did it get on their clothes? I'd love to use it, but I'm afraid of having that happen! If I do it, I will do it in the baggie at first like the instructions say, but I'd love for them to be able to take it out of the bag once it's mixed!
I am not familiar with this recipe but I do make a cooked playdough recipe with Kool Aid. I would definitely make it in bags. Once it is mixed well, it shouldn't stain hands.
Not sure what "magic" you are talking about unless it is the white playdough in individual bags with food coloring inside the balls that has been pinned lately. I haven't used it but just be careful to use only a couple of drops of food coloring and it should be fine. Either way, it will wash out (eventually :lol
I did a ball of playdough the size of a golf ball and one drop of food coloring in the middle. My kids took it out of the bag to mix it. It didn't stain their hands. And it changed enough for them to be super excited about the color. Last year my husband made it for me but put like 3 drops and it did get on their hands. By the end of the day their hands were clean though.
I used it this year on the first day of school. I tried it out on my own kids before I gave it to the students. More than one drop of food coloring seemed to make it really sticky and made it stain their hands. One drop, however, didn't really make very exciting colors. I'm thinking next year of trying the gel. The activity was really fun for the first day!
When tested it out on my hands last year, it stained mine. Instead, I just got a ball of colored playdough and put it in the middle of the white playdough. They can't see it and it changes the playdough color just the same.
I used liquid watercolor paint....worked just the same, but no stains at all...the kool aid will change the color as well and add a nice scent... I have also added peppermint extract around the holidays and some others that I can't think of right now...
I used yellow playdough in the middle and blue on the outside and when they mixed it it turned green and they loved it with no staining problems. All of the playdough was home made with no problems.
You can find a recipe here along with a printable: http://littlegiraffes.com/teaching-ideas/1/first-week/