On Sunday morning, I whipped up some homemade playdough for the kids. It took maybe 20 minutes from start to finish and was so easy it left me wondering why I never made it myself before!
Playdough
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup water
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
food coloring
Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar and oil, and slowly add the water. Cook over medium heat, stirring until dough becomes stiff. Turn out onto wax paper and let cool. Knead the playdough with your hands until of proper consistency. Use as is, or divide into balls and add a few drops of the food coloring to make various colors.
I love how soft it turned out and the unique colors. If the kids didn’t love it so much, I think I could spend hours just playing with it myself. :)
Here are some variations of the playdough recipe.
Stumble it!
Dawn says:
how fun! I use a similar recipe but I color mine with packets of kool-aid. Adds a nice scent to the mix and well we don’t drink it around here so we find other ways to use it :)
(I usually dye yarn with kool aid)
November 10th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Lilbet says:
Oh how I miss the playdough years!
We used to make the playdough with Kool-aid too. Smells nice and the colors are out of this world. However, it probably has horrible chemicals in it.
We used to give candy cane playdough scented with peppermint essential oil to our preschool friends for the holidays. I’m not sure about the edible-ness of peppermint oil, can’t remember back that far!
I can still smell your recipe on the stove. Not pleasant, but brings back happy memories.
November 10th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Paula says:
It’s been awhile since I made play-dough and I really should do it again. You’re right that it is surprisingly easy. I like to use cool-aid (or generic equivalent) for coloring as well.
November 10th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Paula says:
It’s been awhile since I made play-dough and I really should do it again. You’re right that it is surprisingly easy. I like to use cool-aid (or generic equivalent) for coloring as well.
November 10th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Summer says:
That does sound easy, now if I can find the cream of tartar.
November 10th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Green Me says:
Wow. That brings back memories. I remember using that stuff in preschool! (And tasting it — too salty/yucky to actually eat!). Do you know if this recipe can also be baked/dried to make ornament? I think we did that in preschool too…
I also love the idea of using Koolaid for colors, I’d never drink the stuff, but that is clever!
November 10th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Krista says:
i always put baby oil in my playdough instead of just cooking oil – it does not go rancid as fast. not really all that edible, but Josh is past the point where i worry about that.
November 10th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Mom On The Go says:
We haven’t made any in a while but Reid’s favourite part is always kneading the colour into the ball. I keep it in the fridge and then it lasts and lasts. I’ve been thinking of dough ornaments this year. They’ll be fun, too, I would imagine.
November 10th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
chelle says:
we always make our own playdough (makes a great gift too!)
Yours look so cool, the colours are awesome!
November 10th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Half Pint Pixie says:
They look fab, I’m going to make my own when our batch of store-bought own-brand non-stinky (I went around smelling them!) stuff eventually dries out :) I shall kepp your recipe handy for then!
November 10th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Niecey says:
Thanks. I bookmarked this, my kids would love it.
November 10th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Lisa @ Crazy Adventures in Parenting says:
Awesome! I’m saving this one to make this week! :)
November 10th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Farrah says:
We made this today… felt inspired! Thanks! Did you get the food coloring all over your hands when kneading the color into the play-dough? Or did I miss something? Thanks Amy!
November 10th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Lori in Denver says:
I Kirtsy’ed this:
http://www.kirtsy.com/upcoming.php
November 10th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Jenni at My Web of Life says:
I can’t stand the smell of PlayDoh! Even though it say it’s non-toxic, I always wonder what that wierd chemically scent is that seems so impossible to wash off of little hands (and mine!) Thanks for posting such a great alternative.
Another fun idea is to scent the homemade playdough with spices like pumpkin pie spice for orange, cinammon with red, vanilla for white and lemon extract for yellow. I got this idea from my daughter’s preschool a few years ago.
November 10th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
phyllis says:
this is pretty similar to my recipe. i think mine has a little more flour. i use kool-aid for the coloring and it adds a nice scent too.
keep it in the fridge and it will last forever. unless your kids sneeze on it.
November 10th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
What Fun! « The Mama Diaries says:
[...] http://crunchydomesticgoddess.com/2008/11/10/easy-peasy-playdough-recipe/ [...]
November 11th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
sheri says:
Such a fun thing to make! We made a big batch as a homeschool family project recently; it was fun, easy, and very inexpensive to make 4 gigantic balls of organic spelt playdough. I blogged it here and included my recipe (similar to yours):
http://greenandcrunchy.blogspot.com/2008/10/homeschool-family-project-homemade.html
It’s soft and squishy and irresistible :)
November 13th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Naomi says:
While the play dough is fresh and your feet are clean, drop it on the kitchen floor, put on a CD, and dance on it barefoot. You won’t be sorry.
November 18th, 2008 at 11:06 am
» Green Me Holiday Gift Guide & Giveaway Green Me: Healthy and Green by the Day says:
[...] By the time kids are ready for preschool they are geared to learn! What better for little minds that beautiful felt letters or felt stories and numbers. And, when they are ready for playtime you can always break out a kids bowling set, non-toxic modeling beeswax, and homemade play dough (buy it here or make your own with this recipe). [...]
November 20th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Best recipes from around the web » Easy-peasy playdough recipe says:
[...] Crunchy Domestic Goddess wrote a fantastic post today on “Easy-peasy playdough recipe”Here’s ONLY a quick extract… how soft it turned out and the unique colors. If the kids didn’t love it so much, I think I could spend hours just playing with it myself. :). Julian and Ava reaching for the playdough. Here are some variations of the playdough recipe. [...]
November 24th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Crafty, Inexpensive Gift Ideas For A Homemade Holiday | Nature Deva says:
[...] your own homemade playdough which is safe and non-toxic and you can even color it with different food coloring. Store it in [...]
December 5th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
mezzaluna says:
finally got around to doing this today – the recipe doesn’t seem to say when to add the cream of tartar. i added it after stirring in the water but before cooking and that seemed to work.
i wonder if i can feed it to the chickens when it starts to get icky… hmmm…
thanks for the inspiration!
December 31st, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Michelle says:
I love this recipe. But I’ve learned a trick to make it less sticky to work with: I heat the water and salt, stirring until all the salt dissolves. Then I add the oil and coloring to the pan. I measure the flour and cream of tartar, blending them well, and set aside, letting the liquid mixture cool a little. Then add the flour and cream of tarter to pan. Mix with a fork, switching to fingers when it is cool enough to knead.
March 5th, 2009 at 5:42 am
Joyce says:
I stumbled across your blog while I was looking for a candy cane playdoh recipe. I *love* this recipe. It is so soft and easy to work with. I really dont want to buy playdoh ever again. Thanks so much for sharing.
December 18th, 2010 at 2:10 am
Jacinto Fusselman says:
Great info over again. Thumbs up:)
June 1st, 2011 at 3:27 pm