Homemade Play-Doh Recipe

Homemade Play-Doh Recipe

 

Homemade play-doh is the best!  First of all, it's cheaper than the store-bought stuff, which is great.  Secondly, you can customize the texture so that it's nicer than the store-bought stuff.  Finally, you can customize it to have an amazing scent!  Although this recipe requires "cooking" it's really just stirring a few ingredients over medium heat for about 5 minutes, so it is easy.  Plus, the ingredients are so cheap that it won't cause a major panic even if the first batch or two aren't perfect!

 

 

 

If you've ever thought about making homemade play-doh but didn't know where to start, check this out.

 

Ingredients:

*1 cup white flour

*1/2 cup salt
*2 tablespoon Cream of Tartar (find it in the spice section)
*2 tablespoons oil
*1 cup water
*optional: food coloring, Kool-Aid packet, lotion, or essential oils

Directions:
I use the standard recipe, but I like to add an extra tablespoon of oil during the kneading process because I think it helps reduce salt residue when playing with it. Also, some recipes suggest adding food coloring during the kneading part, but that totally messed up my hands. I add that stuff at the beginning before turning the stove on. :) After typing these up I realized this looks like a long recipe, but it's really super easy to make!

1. Mix the flour, salt, Cream of Tartar, and one tablespoon of oil in a nonstick pan. If using a Kool-Aid packet for color & scent, add it at this time, too.
2. Add water and mix well before cooking.  If using food coloring (which is not necessary during a Kool-Aid batch), add it at this time. Once things start to heat up, it's harder to get an even distribution of coloring so I like to make sure the color looks even before turning on the stove.
3. Turn on the stove & cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 3 – 5 minutes, with a heat-safe spatula or a wooden spoon. Dough will become difficult to stir and form a “clump”. Make sure it is a stiff clump without any runny stuff. Undercooked play-doh will result in a runny, sticky mess.
4. Remove from stove, place in a bowl or on a heat-safe counter and knead for 5 minutes. Since it's hot, use wooden spoons or spatulas to start the kneading process.
5. Once everything looks nicely mixed and feels warm rather than hot, you can ditch the wooden spoons & knead with hands. Little helpers love to help at this time, too! 
6. Once everything is mixed together and looks good, try mixing in 1/2 cup of lotion where one of the first 3 ingredients is "glycerin."  This can add an extra silkiness to the play-doh and leave less salt residue after playing.  I love hand lotion in play-doh!
7. Store in an airtight container or bag at room temperature for up to 3 months.

Bonus ideas: Sometimes, it can be fun to add glitter to a batch. For the winter or a Frozen party, imagine blue food coloring gel, peppermint essential oil (not food extract), and white glitter. For the spring, you can use brown food coloring gel to make it look like earth & maybe add in a pine or evergreen essential oil. Sometimes I add my personal body lotion to a batch. Since I play with it as much as Jake, I figure I get to have some custome batches, too. :) I've made batches where I've replaced water with TAZO Passion tea. Those batches have a light pink color & smell like hibiscus tea. Other teas could work, too. I've thought about replacing the water with coffee, but haven't tried that yet. Someone familiar with doTerra oils could even create a therapeutic batch for the family.

Photo of our orange Kool-Aid batch:

Sometimes, I make a batch of tea ahead of time, and once it's cooled to room temperature, I use it instead of water.  When I made a batch with TAZO Passion tea, the batch had a faint tea scent and the dough looked kind of fleshy.  When we put it into a Play-Doh farmer & made it grow hair, it kind of looked like he had a bumpy scalp.