RANCHO SANTA FE -- Debbie Lindgren and Linda Manaster gather around the kitchen, sifting flour into a mixing bowl, adding salt, water and other ingredients, and stirring.

They're not in a home baking bread; they're in a commercial bakery in San Diego, preparing their nontoxic, hypoallergenic "activity dough." It's being sold by Bluedominoes Inc., a startup formed by the two to develop safer children's art supplies.

The company started out as an informational Web site for parents concerned about how environment and diet affect children's health. As a business, it's been in operation for just over a year. It has already gained notice: Activity dough won the Most Innovative Product award in May from the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Lindgren said the inspiration to make activity dough came from her experience with her son, Mark, who became repeatedly distraught in kindergarten. Mark turned out to be sensitive to materials in yellow modeling dough, she said. So Lindgren sent Mark back to school with her own homemade modeling dough, and his normal behavior returned.

Soon, other interested parents requested their own supplies of the dough. Seeing a business potential, the two Rancho Santa Fe residents teamed up with a French chef, Fabrice Poigin. He found them the bakery and helped them develop the recipes.

Both have business experience to complement their domestic roles. Manaster is an entrepreneur who founded Larkin Street Foods, LLC, which sold the Savvy Faire brand of meals. Lindgren has a history in marketing, including a role as senior marketing manager at Qualcomm Inc.

Activity dough is their first product, notable for what it does not contain: wheat gluten, heavy metals or artificial colors.

"It sounds like it might be easy, but like when you're making food, you've got to be precise," Lindgren said.

"We wanted to make it with as many organic ingredients as possible, because children will ingest it at some point, even though we say do not eat it," Lindgren said. The company doesn't recommend eating it, however.

Even without eating the dough, sensitive children can be harmed just by handling modeling dough that contains harmful ingredients, Lindgren said. For example, children with celiac disease, which makes them intolerant of gluten, can inadvertently get it into their bodies by rubbing their eyes or putting their fingers into their mouths.

All of the ingredients for activity dough are listed on the package, and the company emphasizes that the dough is made entirely in San Diego. After incidents involving Chinese-made toys made with lead paint, the made-in-America label is reassuring to parents, the two say.

Available in four colors, the activity dough costs $13 per pack at the company's online store at bluedominoes.com. The company can be reached at 858-759-7435.

Call staff writer Bradley J. Fikes at 760-739-6641. Read his blogs at bizblogs.nctimes.com.