Everyone seems to have a favourite play dough recipe! Sure, store bought comes with cool playsets and amazing colours. But made at home, wallet friendly playdough is a more practical alternative to replacing it every few months once little ones have let the store bought dry up. Make-it-yourself playdough is also a great idea for an out of the box birthday gift that is both inexpensive, and more thoughtful as your child has made it themselves. You can get creative with the packaging and personalise it yourself. Or – why not try it as a take home party bag filler next time your little one celebrates with their own birthday party!

A simple search for a make at home playdough recipe will yield several results. But as we all know, when kids are thrown into the mix, the best recipes we find online are the ones that are the cheapest and easiest to make that will still do the job. That’s why we’ve put together this easy to make playdough recipe. You’ll more than likely have all the ingredients already in the cupboard, and it’s easy enough for little hands to help out with.

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• ½ cup salt
• 1 tbsp cream of tartar
• Variety of food colouring
• 1 cup flour

Materials

• Measuring Spoon
• Measuring Cup
• Wooden Spoon
• Rolling pin
• Cutting board
• Medium sized saucepan
• Container or ziplock bag for storage

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Method

1. Combine water, oil, salt, cream of tartar and food colouring of your choice in a medium sized saucepan and cook on a low to medium heat until warm.
2. Remove from heat and add the flour. If you find the mixture a bit too sticky, keep adding flour bit by bit until the consitensy is as you want it.
3. Stir mixture together and then knead until smooth.
4. Store the playdough in an airtight container or a ziplock freezer/sandwich bag.
5. Time for everyone to get messy. Your playdough is ready!

Helpful Hints:

• For this recipe, resist the urge to omit the cream of tartar, as this is what will help your home-made playdough last for months and months. This is what sets it apart from the store bought kind!
• Also resist the urge to add to much salt – for the same reason. Salt will dry out the mixture faster. You only need as much as the recipe states!
• If your playdough sweats a little, simply add a little more flour.
• Save money on creating multiple colours with different dyes by simply mixing food colouring. Red + yellow for green, pink and blue for purple!
• For sensory play, provide the playdough warm or chill it in the fridge before play time in the warmer months.
• Start with about 5 drops of food colouring, and add more as you wish to brighten it.
• Mixing the food coloring with the water before combining with the dry ingredients allows you to blend them by stirring, without staining your hands.
• Another fun idea is to add glitter! Add about a quarter of a cup for a little bit of sparkle.