Play Dough Recipe

This is the recipe that I have used for almost 20 years.  It’s a great idea to make your own especially if your child likes to taste!  You know exactly what is in it, so a little taste won’t be too bad.  You may also want to substitute gluten free flour for special diets.

 

1 C. flour (and more for adding after cooking)

1/2 C. salt

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 C. water

1 T. oil

1 tsp. food coloring

Combine flour, salt, and cream of tartar in a saucepan.

Do not omit the cream of tartar! This is a very important ingredient that will preserve your dough. I have actually left the dough out overnight and it was still usable. Also, if it somehow, mysteriously gets into your rug or carpet, it will come out!

I tried gel food coloring this time and it worked out great.  Either liquid or gel food coloring is added to the wet ingredients.

Mix liquids and gradually stir them into dry ingredients.

At the last minute, I decided to add some pumpkin spice to the mixture and it blended just fine.

It will look lumpy as the mixture heats.  Keep on medium heat and continue to stir.

As the mixture begins to stick together, turn to low and continue to stir.

(This is a double batch.)

When the dough is no longer wet, take off the heat and allow to cool a bit.

At this point you are cursing me because your pot is a complete mess!

Trust me that soaking it in hot water will do the trick, it comes out perfectly clean!

Now I take small portions at a time and begin rolling and patting in more flour until I get the consistency I want.  I used quite a bit of flour this time so prepare for that if it’s still a little sticky.

This was Halloween playdough so I thought some candy eyes would be fun!

I found these at Hobby Lobby and have used them for cookies and other food crafts.

My teenager had fun with it too!

I decided not to use them with my little ones but if you are engaging with older kiddos, this would be a fun idea!  You don’t have to worry about tasting since they are edible.

Once it’s all cooled, you can start rolling it out and having lots of playdough fun!

These are some fun Halloween cookie cutters, but collect cutters of all shapes and categories for year-round fun!

Here are some other ideas:

Package up some dough and add a cutter for a great gift at a party or as an alternative to candy.

Use this same idea for birthday or holiday goody bags!

Use cutters of different sizes to talk about ‘big’ and ‘little’.

Collect what your child loves and hide them in the dough.  Try bugs, dinosaurs, letters, animals, cars or trains.

Add some scents and/or flavoring to the dough for some added sensory fun!

Now you are ready to play!