Disclosure:  Discount School Supply graciously supplied us with this glitter at my request because I am obsessed with their glitter.  My review is not swayed by this free product because I already adored it!

This is the first post in an awesome five day series on Fall Recipes for Play that Housing a Forest, Learn Play Imagine, Blog Me Mom, and I (Fun at Home with Kids) have put together.  By the end of this week, you'll have 20 fabulous ways to embrace fall.  :)  We are kicking off the series today, Monday, with ideas for Fall Doughs.  Tuesday will be Fall Homemade Paints; Wednesday Fall Glowing Recipes; Thursday is dedicated to the Scents of Fall; and Friday is all about Fall Nature.

One of our favorite spices is pumpkin spice, and every year S and I make loads of ornaments and decorations.  The kid LOVES to decorate.  So I figured I'd make a batch of Pumpkin Spice Salt Dough, because yummy smelling decorations are better than unscented ones.  Ha.  As I'd hoped, our dough smelled deeeeelicious.  S thought so too, and couldn't resist repeatedly sniffing it.

S and I have made cookies and ornaments dozens and dozens of times.  Until this day, I have always needed to "start" her out by rolling the dough myself...but this year, my big 4 year old could do it completely solo.

And cookie cutters?  No problem.  She was a total pro.  For the first time in my life, I literally just sat back and watched her go.  She made these ornaments (minus two I got to have a turn cutting out) all by herself.

So.  Big.

And of course my little X wanted to try a bit, too.  He mostly thinks dough is hilarious.  He loves to poke and squish it and crack up.

He did VERY earnestly try to roll the dough for a few minutes before deciding it was too hard and going back to some floor play.

She's basically grown up now.  EEEK!

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After baking the ornaments and making our house smell even more delicious (oh. my. word.), we decided that decorations are not SUPER decorative without loads of glitter.  I made some glitter glue for S to paint on the ornaments by mixing some of our absolute favorite Colorations Extra-Safe Plastic Glitter with some clear glue.  We also added some extra glitter on top.  Because, you know.  Glitter.  You can never have too much.

As I mentioned in our Golden Glitter Slime post, this glitter is SUPER pretty and sparkly, but also SO kid-friendly because it does not dump out when you shake it.  It dispenses very slowly with shaking, so it doesn't make a huuuuuge mess (we've had other glitters DUMP on us before).  And did I mention it's SOOOOO PRETTY?  Because look at that:

See.  Told ya.  So pretty.  If you are glitter averse, you can either leave the ornaments plain, or you could paint them.  We had nowhere to hang these, but you can easily turn them into ornaments by making a hole in the dough before baking.  S gleefully decorated the center of our dining room table and our fireplace mantel with her beautiful (and lovely smelling!) decorations.

To make your own Pumpkin Spice Salt Dough:

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

1 cup water

2 tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

Stir all really well.  I find that at the end I need to knead this like a bread dough.  You want it to be dry, but not cracking.  If it is sticking to your hands at all, add more flour.  If it is crumbling all over the place, add more water.  We also found it easier for S to work with if she lightly floured her work space between rolling out each ball of dough.  We baked them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet in a 200 degree oven for an hour, then flipped and cooked an additional hour.  Your ornaments should be really hard with no give.  If your child has made thicker ornaments, you may need to bake for longer than 2 hours.  If you have thinner ornaments, they may be done slightly sooner.

Now that you've got our recipe for Fall Dough, don't forget to check out the other three amazing recipes that are part of the series.  And be sure to come back tomorrow for Homemade Fall Paint Recipes!!!

Apple Dough made with Real Apples from Blog Me Mom

Pumpkin Spice Marshmallow Dough from Housing a Forest

 Fall Playdough Recipe from Learn Play Imagine

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All activities here are activities I feel are safe for my own children.  As your child's parents/guardians, you will need to decide what you feel is safe for your family.  I always encourage contacting your child's pediatrician for guidance if you are not sure about the safety/age appropriateness of an activity. All activities on this blog are intended to be performed with adult supervision.  Appropriate and reasonable caution should be used when activities call for the use of materials that could potentially be harmful, such as scissors, or items that could present a choking risk (small items), or a drowning risk (water activities), and with introducing a new food/ingredient to a child (allergies).  Observe caution and safety at all times.  The author and blog disclaim liability for any damage, mishap, or injury that may occur from engaging in any of these activities on this blog.