The Best Homemade Play Dough

Looking for the best homemade play-doh recipe? As a mom of 7, I can tell you that we have made a LOT of different types of homemade play dough through the years! This recipe is the one I keep returning to over and over. It’s soft, smooth, and colorful but doesn’t stain anything, and- it keeps well. Read on to learn how to make it!

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I can still remember the first time I made salt dough with my boys when they were little, they LOVED it. Back then, I was a desperate mama looking for any way I could to keep my rambunctious tots busy and I found this little book that had all kinds of recipes in it for art supplies.

When I made the first recipe and presented it to my children, they thought it was MAGIC. They played with it for hours and while the activity was a success, the dough was already getting dried out and left a thin film of white powder behind on everything it touched! I did not enjoy cleaning that up, lol!

Plus, my little ones’ hands were all dried out from all the salt in the dough, which wasn’t too pleasant. And so my quest began to find a good play dough recipe that we could make at home.

• Some recipes we tried didn’t have the right consistency
• Some left coloring on our hands
• Some separated after being played with
• The worst ones smelled after being stored- bad.

Finally, we found one that was perfect.

This is a cook-method play-dough. I have found that the cooking method for dough allows you to make more vibrant colors that don’t transfer or bleed. My boys are all grown up, but my girls now enjoy making it with me and playing with it. They love a lot of colors for their playdoh so we use cake decorating gel colors to adjust the intensity of the color as they like it. They also love scenting the play dough with essential oils and different spices.

Storing the play-dough

To store the play-dough, we use plastic containers with air-tight lids and they last for months.

A couple of tips when making this homemade play-dough

• Follow the recipe exactly. If you add too much or too little of each ingredient, it will affect the consistency of the play dough.
• When at the stove, make sure to stick with it and keep stirring the dough constantly. Once the dough starts to thicken, this happens QUICKLY. If you neglect it, it will burn.
• Be sure to store it in a truly air-tight container. I didn’t once and my kiddos were disappointed to find that their play dough had dried out.

Homemade Play Dough

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1/3 cup salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (we like using melted coconut oil, but any vegetable oil will do)
• gel food coloring
• essential oil or spices if you plan to scent it

Instructions:

1. Mix together all the ingredients except spices or essential oils in a medium (2-quart) saucepan.
2. Cook over low/medium heat, stirring consistently. 
3. Continue stirring until the mixture is thickened and begins to gather around the spoon.
4. Take the saucepan off of the heat and add your chosen spices (just a few shakes will do!) or a few drops of essential oils to the dough and stir to mix it in well.
5. Remove the dough onto wax paper or a plate to cool.
6. Once your play-doh is cool enough to touch, knead it a few times to make sure everything is thoroughly mixed and form it into a ball. Let it cool completely. (I usually place some plastic wrap over it to reduce the risk of it drying out)
7. Once cooled completely, place it in the air-tight container for storage or play with it! Enjoy!