How to make playdough


This is pretty crazy to me in hindsight, but I have never made playdough until yesterday! My daughter ran out of her other kind, so we decided to make the homemade stuff and it was super easy and fast. Would you like to know how to make playdough? Follow the tips below...


Ingredients:

2 cups flour
2 cups water
1 cup salt
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 Tablespoon cream of tartar
food coloring or other desired color agents like carrot juice etc.

Steps:

1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a pot over low heat and stir until the dough pulls away from the pan and forms a ball.

2. Take warm dough out and place on counter and knead, then divide into balls for coloring.

3. Make a hole in the center of each ball and place desired color in each section and then knead each ball again to mix in the color. (You may want to use plastic wrap or gloves for this stage)

4. Voila! The playdough is ready to play with. Make sure to store in an air-tight container, temporarily we are just using plastic sandwich bags. Another tip I've heard, but not observed is to dispose of the playdough after a month or so it doesn't go bad.

Have you made playdough before? Any tips you would like to add?


Photos by Rachel Jones - Black Eiffel.

34 comments:

Siobhan C said...

I too made play dough for the first time recently. I can categorically denounce the cheat's no-cook version. It's rubbish. The cooked way is the only way.

Sweet Pea (formerly Alice) said...

That's amazing! Another thing I look forward to doing with my future children...
Have a great day!
Just a Silhouette

homestilo said...

I'm with Alice. Hope your daughter enjoyed playing with it as much as might have enjoyed making it!

jaclyn @ thelateafternoon said...

homemade "salt dough" play dough was one of my favorite things as a kid! i even made some of ornaments out of the dough last christmas! love the color choices you made!

Joanna Goddard said...

i LOVE this rachel!!! thank you!!!

Ihilani said...

this is perfect! I was JUST thinking I needed to make some playdough the other day. my husband didn't believe that you could make it...hahaha. now i can prove him wrong with this!

Christina said...

I've never made playdough before, but love the smell of it. LOL Thanks for sharing!

Gabriella said...

lovely blog i've just discovered!! looove the playdough diy, thanks for the idea!! will definitely do it and if you are ok will also post it on our blog!!

Julie said...

I completely remember my mother making this for me when I was a child. What fun!

Corina said...

we used to make play dough all the time when i was a kid!! thanks for reminding me! can't wait till my kiddo is old enough so i can make it for him!

Anonymous said...

The best play dough trick is to add one pack of unsweetened Kool aide drink mix while the dough is cooking. It colors the dough and gives it a great fruity smell!

tara said...

My mum used to make playdough when I was a kid! I can still remember the salty taste :)

Jillian said...

oh, how cool! i'll have to bookmark this for when my nephews come over to play. they're always looking for different things to play with.

kiki said...

Oh, I completely forgot about this until I saw your post. I have many happy memories of my mom making this for us to play with and I absolutely loved the smell too!!! Thanks for bringing back happy memories!

Anonymous said...

I used to love making play dough with my Mom when I was little. Thanks for taking me back!

kat said...

Absolutely adorable!

Red Shoes Photography said...

My mom used to make this for me when I was young. I remember how much it stung in all my little paper cuts on my hands (all the salt!) Brings back memories of our contact-papered craft table in the basement. Thanks!

Rachel said...

I love the colours! I've only made bright play dough in the past so must give these a try.

JESSICA DEFINE said...

this is a great reminder that when I have kids, I should not buy play-doh.. the colors of yours are so much better, and it looks good enough to eat.

andrea kathryn said...

I love making playdough... but truth be told, my mother is still way better at it than I am. My tricks are to add sparkles to it sometimes, that is kind of cool... and to add a drop or two of essential oil. I love the smell of it too, but lavender coloured dough that smells like lavender is also pretty awesome.

I don't think you have to worry about it going bad, the salt content is probably enough to keep that from happening. In our house, the bits that get lost or dry out whittle the dough away too fast to worry about it anyhow. It also makes really brilliant gifts!

La Casa Atelier said...

Wow!
I take note, i think soon some little boy will ask me for playdough...

Jenna (flutter glass) said...

It still looks delicious after all these years.... :)

Ihilani said...

Tried your recipe and LOVED it! I used it to make centerpiece bases for my daughter's 1st birthday. Most of it got taken home by guests. It turned out fabulous! You can see how it turned out here: http://www.pupukababy.com/?p=731 Thanks for the idea!

swiftcolour said...

ate so much play dough as a kid lol. Might just have to make some :)

smuggecko said...

good idea for a rainy day. thank you very very much.
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Anne Thompson said...

We looove to make playdough in our house! I add sparkles to it while I'm mixing it in the pot, and then my girls have sparkly playdough!

Carla said...

Thank you so much for this! So easy and totally made me feel all Martha Stewart-ish, happy homemaker-y.

Rosa said...

I recently discovered that you can add pretty-smelling lotion to homemade play dough (replaces some of the oil). I love having rose-scented pink play dough, lavender lavender play dough, "ocean breeze" blue play dough, and your hands couldn't be softer when you finish playing!

Rosa said...

I recently discovered that you can replace the oil in homemade play dough with scented lotion. It's fun to play with rose-scented pink play dough, or lavender lavender play dough, and it makes your hands nice and soft!

Becky said...

Love the idea of adding glitter to the playdoh, my girls loved that.

Thanks for the recipe!

confidence in kids said...

This is great my kids love playdough..they'll have even more fun making it too now!

Anonymous said...

I love the pastel colors. I'm going to give it a try. By the way, if you get a chance, check out my children's blog. Lot's of fun stuff there too.
http://dailydoseofsmiley.blogspot.com/

Mike Desert said...

This is lovely. Your photographs of the process are awesome - everything looks so clean and easy!

Anonymous said...

I've use Kool aid to make it smell good! Any flavor, just explain that playdough is not to be eaten! ;)

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