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Does the perfect play dough exist?
I’ve been on a quest to try all the homemade play dough recipes on Pinterest and still have not found the best one, sure there’s been great ones but not what I’ve been looking for. I started looking at popular small batch play dough ingredients all over the internet as well. And I think I’ve finally found THE one!
Most recipes included: flour, cream of tartar, salt, oil, water and some sort of food coloring.
I noticed that by adding an extra starch it could potentially make the recipe stretchier (have you ever noticed that when adding corn starch to a roux instead of flour how it gets stretchier? That’s my moms secret to making mac and cheese, maybe I’ll share her recipe sometime!). I trialed with corn starch, potato starch, tapioca flour and arrowroot powder. And while they were all great and provided unique textures and characteristics, one of them really stood out and created its own sort of play dough.
First maybe I should explain what I was looking for in a play dough.
I wanted it to be:
- Comparable to store bought (but not as hard)
- Not too sticky
- Stretchy and moldeable
- Not hard to stretch/mold
- Soft
- Colored with natural colors
My new play dough recipe checks all those boxes.
Play dough is such a cheap and easy tool to use in your home for early toddlerhood and beyond! My 5 year old still loves play dough. I also love that the homemade stuff doesn’t cause such a disaster if it gets stuck in the carpet, it just dries up and vacuums right up (ask me how I know).
Some well known benefits to letting your children play with sensory materials such as play dough are:
- Developing motor skills
- Encourages problem solving
- Supports cognitive development
- Aids in developing and enhancing memory
- It’s calming
- Promotes good natured play
- And my not so scientific reason: teaches children the value of slow living
You’ll also notice that I used food-based food coloring in this recipe. I mainly do that because we don’t keep food coloring on hand. Plus, you can get really creative by just using ingredients from your kitchen! Some ideas for coloring your play dough with food are:
- Matcha tea
- Instant coffee
- Cinnamon
- Paprika
- Turmeric
- Beet powder
- Cocoa powder
- Ube powder
- Spirulina
- Activated Charcoal (might stain, we tried this time, but we don’t have a nice table so I don’t mind)
- Although I’ve never tried, I think making a tea with some fruit or herbs with the water would add a nice color too! I would probably just put that play dough batch in the fridge.
Perks to adding food-based food coloring is that it smells amazing, which adds to the overall sensory experience for children of all ages! Also, just to note, that when you add different powders to the master play dough recipe, you will inadvertently change the composition of the dough, so it may be grittier, softer, or harder, depending on the food-based food coloring you choose! I think that adds to the fun a little bit, so your kids can experience different sensations thanks to chemistry! And I’d call this class “chemistry” in my unschool classroom 😉
So, without further ado, my play dough recipe that you and your kids will enjoy making together with ease.
Ingredients:
Dry:
- 1 C. flour (+ up to 3 tbsp., add 1 tbsp at a time)
- ¼ C. arrowroot powder
- 2 tsp. cream of tartar
- ½ C. salt
Wet:
- ¾ C. hot water
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tbsp food coloring (either food based powder, or liquid)
Instructions
- Add all dry ingredients to your stand mixer (or a bowl, you can mix by hand!) and mix dry ingredients together
- Add all wet ingredients to a measuring cup (the kind that looks like a pitcher, or a glass jar works, also using your tea kettle to heat the water up makes this so easy and kid friendly)
- Thoroughly mix the wet ingredients so there are no clumps from your food based powder food coloring.
- Add the wet ingredients to the mixer with the dry ingredients and mix/knead until combined
- If the dough is not quite coming together, or you just prefer a more firm dough (it will harden up a bit as it cools down though) add flour 1 tbsp at a time.
- Store in airtight jars or stasher bags!
*If your play dough dries out, put it in the stand mixer with a bit of warm water, and knead it back together* (you can also knead together in the stasher bag, or on the table if your hands aren’t that sensitive or you have gloves)
Some things we love to use with our play dough are:
- Cookie cutters
- Rolling pins
- Popsicle sticks
- Laminated alphabet cards or number cards for pre-writing skills
- Plastic animals
- Play dough stamps
- Pipe cleaners
- Gems, stones, or rocks
- Sticks
I hope you have so much fun making this with your kids! Check out my instagram @slowlivingrealist for a reel to see just how easy and quick you can make this with your kids! Also, be sure to let me know if you like this recipe or if you’ll stick to your tried and true.
