Gluten-Free Spiced Holiday Playdough: Pretend Cookie Shop

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I can’t believe I actually attempted another gluten-free playdough after our very wet pumpkin playdough experiment…but I did and actually succeeded! I wanted to set up a pretend gingerbread cookie making station for the kiddos today. We had some cold, wet weather and I was not up for an outing today so tried to keep them occupied with tried and true playdough! With Ava’s recent dietary changes we are no longer making traditional flour-based playdough (a major challenge for us!). Although there are so many gluten-free flour substitutes they are incredibly expensive compared to a 5 lb bag of all-purpose baking flour. Therefore, I’ve had to get a bit inventive. We were given a gluten-free baking mix that expired before my daughter was even born…so I figured that would be a good place to start!

To the baking mix, I added some salt and enough water to make a dough consistency.

This gluten-free playdough alternative is perfect for sensory play and a pretend Christmas cookie shop!

My kids love pouring and stirring. Today we added some cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger to our mix for an increased sensory experience. They loved smelling each spice, cinnamon was a definite favorite…ginger not so much.

Once we had our playdough made, I set out a tray with various beads, marbles, etc as decorations. And of course, what’s a cookie without some sprinkles?! I like to pick these up after holidays when they are on clearance. We use them as glitter when making these types of projects, and it is much easier to clean up! I added some ‘gingerbread bear’, snowman and heart cookie cutters along with rolling pins.