The BEST homemade playdough recipe – make in less than 5 minutes for under a $1 and have it last for months! It is so soft and squishy and cuts perfectly with cookie cutters.
One of my kids favorite activities is playing with play dough. It is the perfect indoor activity for when it’s raining, too cold or too hot. When the weather’s nice we’ll even take it outside on the porch. My kids (age 8, 6 and 2) ALL love playing with play dough. My son pretends like he’s outgrowing it, but whenever my girls start playing with it, he always ends up joining in on the fun. I usually give them a few different colors, a mini rolling pin, some cookie cutters and let them go to town. I love seeing their imagination work.
Why is this the best homemade playdough recipe?
- It is SUPER soft and squishy, but doesn’t stick
- The play dough lasts for months in a zip top bag
- It is inexpensive to make
- It makes enough for 4-6 kids
- You can add different colors and even scents to customize your dough
We love making our own play dough, because it is so much softer (and cheaper) than the store bought stuff. I find it also lasts longer as well. Over the years I’ve tried dozens of recipes and this one here is the best playdough recipe out there! I got it several years ago from my son’s preschool teacher and figured I better post it to my blog so I don’t have to keep searching for it. At their preschool, the parents take turns making the play dough a different color each month and once I used this recipe, I haven’t looked back. I have slightly adapted the original recipe over the years. The main thing that I have done is cut down on the salt, as I found it keeps the dough extra soft for months!
How to make playdough
Playdough ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup salt
- 4 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 2 cups lukewarm water
- 2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil (coconut oil works too)
- Food coloring, optional (I like Wilton gel food coloring or AmeriColor gel)
- Quart sized bags
Stir together the flour, salt and cream of tartar in a large pot. Next add the water and oil. If you’re only making one color, add in the the color now as well. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the dough has thickened and begins to form into a ball. Remove from heat and then place inside a gallon sized bag or onto wax paper. Allow to cool slightly and then knead until smooth. If you’re adding colors after, divide the dough into balls (for how many colors you want) and then add the dough into the quart sized bags. Start with about 5 drops of color (my favorite brands are listed above) and add more to brighten it. Knead the dough, while inside the bag so it doesn’t stain your hands. Once it’s all mixed together you’re ready to PLAY.
Store the play dough inside the bags once done to keep soft. Keeps for up to 3 months.
Once the dough is finished, I like to put each dough ball into it’s own quart sized zip top bag. Then I let my kids squish the colors together. It gives the kids something to do, makes it so your hands aren’t stained and then gives the dough a home after. We use the same bag to store the dough when the kids are done playing with it. If you only plan on making ONE color, just add the food coloring into the pan when you add the water (makes it easier to mix it in). My kids can never decide on just one color, so we usually need to divide it out.
How to Make Homemade Playdough
Materials
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup salt
- 4 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 2 cups lukewarm water
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil (coconut oil works too)
Optional: food coloring (I use Wilton for brighter colors)
Instructions
- Stir together the flour, salt and cream of tartar in a large pot. Next add the water and oil. If you’re only making one color, stir in the the color now.
- Cook over medium-heat, stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the dough has thickened and begins to form into a ball. Remove from heat and then place inside a bowl, gallon sized bag or onto wax paper.
- Allow to cool slightly and then knead until smooth. If you’re adding colors after, divide the dough into balls (for how many colors you want) and then add the dough into the quart sized bags. Start with about 5 drops of color and add more to brighten it. Knead the dough, while inside the bag so it doesn’t stain your hands. Once it’s all mixed together, you’re ready to PLAY.
- Store the play dough inside the bags to keep soft. If stored properly it will keep soft for up to 3 months.
Video
Notes
Another fun addition to the play dough is to add glitter. We added about 1/4 cup to the bag and kneaded it in with blue and yellow.
My almost 2 year old loves squishing the dough. I love watching those chubby little fingers go to work.
My 6 year old daughter loves pulling out the cookie cutters and making all kinds of designs! She is quite the girly girl. ;)
Make a batch for your kids once school is out for a summer to remember!
This really IS the best playdough recipe! I’m a preschool teacher and we’ve made this recipe a bunch and it’s perfect to add color and essential oils! My recommendation is to start with less water than the recipe requires; we used 1/2c-1c less water and it came out perfectly.
I’m so happy to hear this, Liv! Thanks for your recommendation :)
So easy!! I made it with the kids I babysit, and it was such a fun activity!! The kids got to pick out their own colors & mix it in with their ball. They all loved it! It’s better than store bought for sure!
Yay! I’m so glad they kids loved it! :)
It’s fantastic, my 2 year old granddaughter loves the stuff. Adding color to the water makes it totally a no-clean up project.
Great idea! So happy to hear your granddaughter loves the playdough :)
super nice results! consistency is perfect! kids love it
and i specifically like that it smells like vanilla and not like chemicals (i put in vanilla essence)
thanks for sharing the recipe
I’m so glad your kids love the playdough, Caroline! :)
I LIKE IT
Fantastic. Quick and simple enough recipe that young kids can be involved. Beautifully soft dough that takes colour extremely well. I can’t speak to longevity just yet, but it’s so easy to make we’ll just do another batch.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe :)
Super easy to make. Kids love it and we make a new batch all the time because they play with it every day and get dirt in it. But it does last a long time in a sealed bag. My last batch lasted over a month
I’m so happy to hear your kids love it so much, Melanie!
I made this for our kids on a SNOW DAY, and they loved it! It made the perfect amount for each of my 3 kids to have a ball of their own. They picked out their own food coloring and they mushed it together to color it and then played with it for a long time. So glad I found this recipe. It worked great and it was so cool watching it change form liquid to solid on the stove! :)
Yay! I’m so glad your kids loved the playdough! The perfect snow day activity :)
Does the food coloring come off on their hands and clothes?
Not once mixed. When mixing I recommend using latex gloves or mixing in a zip top bag.
I really like how you guys did this
Thank you :)