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Have you ever tried making Homemade Playdough?
I’ve been making it for years ~ it’s so simple, fun, and thrifty!
This Homemade Playdough Recipe comes from my friend Kristee…
What You’ll Need:
- 1 cup Flour
- 1 cup Water
- 2 tsp. Cream of Tartar
- 1/2 cup Salt
- 1 tbsp. Vegetable Oil
- Food Coloring
- Optional: Vanilla or Peppermint Extract, or Pumpkin Pie Spice
- This makes a good-sized batch, so you could also cut the recipe in half… or make the full recipe using two different sauce pans {to make 2 different colors}
What You’ll Do:
- Mix Together all ingredients {except food coloring} in saucepan
- Optional: Add in a splash of Vanilla extract to make it smell yummy. Or… for more fun scents: add in some Peppermint extract to the ‘Green’ playdough you’re making, or Pumpkin Pie Spice to the ‘Orange’ playdough you’re making! {thanks to Heather & Susan for sharing these tips on Facebook!}
- Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly.
- As soon as the mixture begins to thicken, add in food coloring. Continue to stir.
- Mixture will begin forming into a solid, and gathering on spoon.
- Remove from heat to cool, then remove from saucepan to cool on wax paper, plate, etc.
- Store in freezer ziploc bag. Then, you can even place the bag in a dark container, or in the fridge… to make it last even longer!
If it starts to get dry after several weeks, try adding a few drops of water into play dough to extend it’s shelf life.
Give it a try, and see what you think!
As far as playdough toys go… my boys always loved using mini rolling pins, plastic cookie cutters, and even the garlic press! 
See Also:
More Crafts & Fun Project Ideas!
BIG List of Frugal Summer Fun Ideas for Kids!
Chic & Crafty: New Crafts, Fun DIY Projects & Sweet Treat Recipes!
My kids loved (and still do) homemade playdough, but we make ours with dry Kool Aid unsweetened packets instead of food coloring…it not only gives the dough a super-saturation of color, but it smells awesome! Here’s the recipe–makes one batch.
* 2 1/2 cups flour
* 1/2 cup salt
* 2 (4 g) packages unsweetened Kool-Aid powdered drink mix
* 2 cups boiling water
* 3 tablespoons oil
1. Mix flour, salt, Kool-Aid until blended.
2. 2 Add oil to boiling water, mix with spoon until cool enough to knead.
3. 3 Continue kneading until color is blended.
4. 4 Store in air tight bag or container in the refrigerator.
This is the recipe that I have used. I made it for my kindergarten kids and they loved it!
My Grandma uses this all the time, my copy of it also says you could add oil of peppermint or other scents if you want we don’t add color do to possible fights over who gets what color, Store in a ziplock in a dark container lasts forever.
We only use homemade playdough at our pre-school. For
Valentine’s week we make a chocolate scented playdough.
The kids love and the room smells great!!!!!
Love the idea to add pumpkin spice etc……
I have made the kool aid version a few times, that
also smells great and looks great.
Thanks for the new hints
What did you use to make it smell like chocolate? Love this idea – I’ve been trying to think of something to give the students for Valentine’s Day – this will work out well!
A favorite recipe in our house uses kool-ade for the color & then it smells yummy too! We also keep ours in the fridge in a freezer bag & it lasts forever.
I’d never heard of making playdough till my MIL made it one time. Now we make it rather than buy it! Super money saver!!
LOVE the idea of using kool aid!! I would have never thought of that one!!
Thanks SO much for the shares!!
AWESOME!!! I’m sooo going to make this tomorrow for my little boy!! He will love it!
I think I would be afraid to make mine smell good, my kids already have an issue with eating it!
Nothing in it that will hurt a child. Probably will only eat it once or twice!
was going to share the kool-aid recipe. so glad that some one did. I worked at a day care center and we made this all the time. One morning when the kids opened up the container I got sick from the orange smell.(I was pregnant) LOL
It’s not play dough, but when I used to babysit, I would buy instant vanilla pudding (or white chocolate) and some food coloring and let the kids finger paint on the kitchen table on placemats or on a plastic tablecloth. They could pain, and make pictures, lick their fingers (dessert) and then, I could throw it all in the sink and rinse it off and be done.
This is similar to others posted, but the cooking phase is in the microwave. (This ran in the paper over 20 years ago.)I like the idea of Kool Aid for color and fragrance! When I color this with liquid food coloring, I add the coloring to part of the water, then fill to make the 2 cups. No refrigeration needed!
MARTIN’S PLAY DOUGH (Microwave)
Atlanta Journal and Constitution
2 cups flour, sifted
1 cup salt
4 tsp cream of tartar
2 TBSP vegetable oil
2 cups water
Food coloring, if desired
MIX all ingredients except food coloring in large microwave-safe bowl with wire whisk until smooth
MICROWAVE on HIGH for 3-5 minutes, stirring every minute, until mixture is too thick to stir.
COOL.
KNEAD until smooth
STORE in air-tight container or plastic bag.
KEEPS for months
Does your Play Dough need to be stored in the refrigerator? I teach Kindergarten and do not have access to a refrigerator at school.
Sorry, I just read it again, and saw that it does not need refrigeration. That is great.
Sorry, I read your recipe again, and saw that you said it did not need to be refrigerated. That is great.
Sorry, I just read the recipe again, and saw it does not need refrigeration. That is great.
My recipe is exactly like this one..but you don’t cook anything. You just add the boiling water to the rest of the ingredients ( except food coloring)..and stir until mixed up and knead it.. then separate it into how many colors you want to make. Add food coloring to them and knead them well. * (we always wear rubber gloves to knead the color into the dough..once it is mixed in well..you don’t need them anymore and the color does not get on your hands). We store the individual colors in zip lock bags and keeps them fresh for quite some time.
My 3 year old thought this was so cool.
I’m so glad you liked it, Nicole! It’s definitely a fun project to make with the kids!
~ Heidi
thanks for all the tips,,great we are on our way!!!!!!
play dough time!!!!!!!!
Hey, I just made this for the grandkids! I made it PINK for Ellie’s birthday color (she’ll be 3 tomorrow). I added vanilla and they love playing with it, smelling it as they roll it out. It’s still a little warm, which adds to the senses of playing with it! Thanks, I had this recipe years ago and now have pulled it back in front of my recipe cards for the grandchildren! ~Heidi
I have made homemade playdough for years. I was a nanny and the thing the kids remember is the playdough. I have done the koolaid one, never thought of adding vanilla or spices to it.
When I was in Tupperware we gave the idea of giving playdough in the primary colored bell tumblers with a lid. and put each color of playdough in same colored cup. a great gift idea. I also like the non cooking method much better than the cooked method (can use same recipe, just use boiling water instead of cold). makes much less mess and works up faster.
I also used the recipe when I had to do a public speaking presentation for college class. Made it and gave each student a bag of it as a stress reliever. It went over well.
My Question is Bella talks about chocolate playdough….. how do you make this, sounds wonderful. add cocoa? Please share the recipe Bella.
Hi! I’m featuring this project as one of my Friday Finds on my blog! Go take a peek!
http://sarahndipities.blogspot.com/2011/02/friday-finds-boredom-busters.html
Thanks for the inspiration! Have a great day!
I love making homemade playdough! I make mine in the microwave. I use a lot of color and spices or kool-aid packets. Fun party idea to make with the kids. I let each pick a color & flavor, chocolate, mint, etc. Then I let them play!
if you put in the kool aid does it stain the kids hands?
I’ve made playdough for years and my students just love it. I’ve had my students (pre-k age) help measure, mix, etc. I like to make it in a non-stick electric skillet. I’ve used the kool-aid to color/scent the dough…even using two packets for extra punch! I will say, if you use the kool-aid, make sure it is the actual kool-aid not store-brand or off-brand…they just don’t have the same color saturation as the real thing does!
I used to make this when my kids were small. I pulled the well-worn recipe card out of my box just a few weeks ago and made some for my grandkids. Boy, did I go up a notch in their esteem! “Wow, Grammie knows how to make playdough! She even let us pick our own colors and mix them together.”