home made play dough project

I enjoy making this homemade play dough.  My favorite part is creating the colors! The texture is wonderful. You can make several batches in different colors, package them in cute containers and use them for quick, handmade gifts for playmates or birthday parties.

This is a great opportunity to introduce measuring and the color wheel to your children - they can help add the food coloring to discover how colors mix!

Homemade Play Dough

makes about 2.5 Cups

1 1/2 cups of flour
3/4 cups of salt
1 1/2 cups water
1 TB vegetable oil
1/2 TB cream of tarter
*food coloring - I use the liquid kind

Mix all of the ingredients into a saucepan. Add the food coloring to your liking. - Children can help with this step

Adults only -
Set your stove top to medium-low (about a 2.5 on a glass top stove). Stand by the pan and stir occasionally. When the batter look is gone and the ingredients start staying together when you stir (5-8 minutes), remove the pan from the heat. Lay out some wax paper and scoop play dough onto the wax paper. I can usually start kneading right away, but make sure that you check the dough for heat - you don't want to burn yourself!
Once the dough has been kneaded into a nice texture, place in an airtight container or zip lock. The snack sized zip locks work beautifully.

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*additional information added June 16th, 2009

New play dough made using Wilson's food coloring gel (the gel makes for extra vibrant colors). I probably enjoyed this project more than the children this time. I was able to get 7 balls of dough by doubling the recipe (found in my projects folder - substitute liquid food coloring with gel food coloring). I used my Magic Bullet to blend the food coloring gel and 3/4 C of 'batter' for each individual color (instead of stirring) and the play dough turned out ultra smooth. Make some summer colors this week for your children to enjoy...Simply Lovely!

I'm more than happy to share this project with you and hope that you enjoy the process of creating!  If you liked this project leave me a comment!  Thanks so much~ Susannah

Comments

[tiedupmemories]

Thanks for the recipe! Fun to do during the summer!For me and the kids! Lol!
Tracy

[helena]

oh this is great! and if the kids by accident or curiousity eat some its not te end of the world! home made is allways better. and the colors are great! will defenatly try!

[elisa]

just "cooked". Ehi, no coming back. This is the softest we have ever played with and I think the more suitable for small children. Thank you for having shared!

[art nest]

Elisa -
Yippee!! It really is wonderful, glad you loved it!

[valeria]

Wonderful recipe!!!!

[Angela]

Great recipe. I also tried adding kool-aid. It added the color and made the play dough smell super yummy. The color wasn't as vibrant, but next time I think I'll add the kool-aid and some gel coloring.

[art nest]

Thanks Angela - I'll have to try the kool-aid next time :)

[Misako Mimoko]

thank you! what a great craft project!

[Brooke]

Stuck at home today with the kids, and this is what we are going to do! Thanks for the fun idea! (Oh, and what a great picture!)

[Jane]

thank you so much for the great post!

[Nicole]

Thanks so much for this. I made this with my daughter today and it turned out perfect. We colored ours with Americolor gel food coloring and were very pleased with the outcome. We made four different colored balls with the recipe as is.

[Nina]

I actually found you via Pinterest. I saw a picture of gorgeous homemade play-do and wondered where it came from. I love that this is so simple. My girls love to sculpt so I'm excited to try this. Thanks for sharing!

[Nakia]

This is awesome. I do have a question about the cream of tartar - is that what binds everything together? I'm home with the kid and just realized that we don't have any at all.

[Lauren]

Saw this on Pinterest and had to see the recipe! I can't wait to make some red play dough this week. :)

[Gabi]

This is great!! I have everything to make some
Thank you!!

[Linda Noyes]

It works ok using the Magic Bullet to mix it up - which blade is used - thought it would be too stiff for the magic bullet to mix up. Please advise. Thanks Susannah

Linda Noyes

[art nest]

Linda -
Hello! Thanks for your question. I use the regular blender type blade. I'm sorry I don't know which specific blade it is (NOT the flatter 'chopping' blade). The texture of the dough before you 'cook' it is very much like pancake batter. I have not had any issues mixing it with my magic bullet. Mix color and 'batter' before cooking! Let me know if you have any additional questions!
Susannah
PS: I have also emailed you this response!

[Margaret Flynn]

I've had a similar recipe. I making recipe books for a few new brides as a wedding gift. I'm including your picture and recipe/blog. I've included your copyright information on the bottom of the page. Thanks. Great picture. I made many a recipe with my kids over 30 years ago.

[Amy]

I also found you from Pinterest. Great recipe! My kids are playing with a batch as I type. :)

[nikki]

Hi-
I found your recipe through pinterest and decided to give it a try. I just finished posting my process to my blog but added a link to your blog saying this is where i originally got the recipe (and the cute picture idea). Thanks again...my kids cant wait to dive in.
1 question though...explain exactly when you add your food coloring...your colors are so vibrant...i added it after it was done cooking and took approx 1 cup and kneaded the colors in...but my colors were no where near as beautiful as yours were.

[Peggy]

I am SO glad to find this old favorite (LOST!) recipe I used with my children! I wanted to make it with my grandson and have not been able to find the recipe in the old recipe box where I thought it had been stashed forever. Now we're ready for next Friday morning! Thanks for posting it!

[Mone]

Hi, I also swapped over from pinterest and since I never made any recipe like that, I just wndered, how long can we keep the paly-dough? Is it for one use only or can it be stored a while (i.e. in the fridge?)

Thanks, Mone

[Holiday]

Thank you for sharing! I am so excited to try this with my kids!

[Catherine]

Hi!

I just made this with my DD tonight and it worked wonderfully. She's already enjoyed playing with it. Thanks for posting this!

[Laurie]

Just cooked up a batch of light green with glitter! Playing right now. Such fun. Thank you.