How to Make Ramps Out of Playdough

Build a ramp out of playdough for your toy cars, bikes and skateboards.

Playdough is a simple material that can provide children with endless hours of fun. Not only can children be amused by playdough but using this material can be beneficial in several ways. Sculpting with playdough helps children develop hand strength and dexterity -- using the hands can stimulate brain activity. When it comes to building with playdough, the possibilities are endless. You can use playdough to build things that will complement other toys; e.g., ramps for toy cars, bikes and skateboards. Once the ramps dry, you can use them to build a mini skate park.

Things You'll Need

• Flour
• Salt
• Small bowl
• Wooden spoon
• Water
• Cream of tartar
• Cooking oil
• Medium sauce pan
• Food coloring
• Ruler
• Oven
• Baking sheet
• Parchment paper

Instructions

1. Mix 1 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of salt in a small bowl with a wooden spoon.

2. Combine 1 cup of water, 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar and 1 tablespoon of cooking oil in a medium saucepan. Squeeze 2 or 3 drops of food coloring into the mixture.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the pan slowly and stir until the consistency changes from a paste to a rubber. Turn out the contents of the pan onto a flat counter or table and knead the dough until soft.

4. Gather a large handful of playdough and shape it into a ball. Press the ball gently on a flat surface to flatten the bottom.

5. Pick up the piece of playdough, flip it over and press it onto the flat surface to flatten the top. Repeat this process, gently pressing all of the rounded sides until they are slightly flattened. When finished, your piece of playdough should be in the shape of a rectangle or square.

6. Support one of the vertical sides of your playdough cube with the flat of your hand while using the flat side of a ruler to pat the playdough into a 45-degree slope. Position the ruler perpendicular to the hand supporting the playdough and tap the entire length of the dough until it forms a triangle shape.

7. Leave the playdough ramp in this simple shape or use your fingers and your ruler to give the ramp a slightly concave shape to mimic a real bike ramp.

8. Repeat the process of shaping pieces of playdough into squares and rectangles and experiment to create ramps of various shapes and sizes. Increase the size of the starter ball to make a larger ramp and shape the ball into a rectangle rather than a square to make a longer ramp.

9. Preheat the oven to 120 degrees Fahrenheit and arrange your playdough ramps on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake the dough for 30 minutes, then slowly raise the temperature by 20 degrees every 15 minutes until it reaches 200 degrees.

10. Bake the dough at 200 degrees until hard. The baking time may range from two to four hours depending on the thickness of the dough. Allow the dough to cool completely before using the playdough ramps. It may take several hours for the dough to cool.

Tips & Warnings

• The more food coloring you add to your dough, the stronger the color will be. If you want to achieve a pastel color, use only one drop of coloring. To make sure you get the color you want, add only one drop at a time and mix it well before adding another.

• This playdough recipe is safe for children to eat but they should not be encouraged to do so. Small children could choke if they swallow large pieces of dough.

References

• Penn State University; Play Dough
• Scholastic.com; Playing with Play Dough