Make Your Own Playdough – VERY EASY!
I often use this recipe to make play dough with my grandkids. I really love the texture, the color, and the smell when I finish and it lasts a very long time! You can make a lot of it at one time. I usually put the play dough into separate plastic containers for storage.
Basic ingredient ratios:
2 cups flour
2 cups warm water
1 cup salt
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon cream of tartar (optional for improved elasticity)
food coloring (liquid, powder, or unsweetened drink mix)
scented oils
What to do:
Mix all of the ingredients together, and stir over low heat. The dough will begin to thicken until it resembles mashed potatoes.
When the dough pulls away from the sides and clumps in the center, as shown below, remove the pan from heat and allow the dough to cool enough to handle.
IMPORTANT NOTE: if your playdough is still sticky, you simply need to cook it longer!
Keep stirring and cooking until the dough is dry and feels like playdough.
Turn the dough out onto a clean counter or silicone mat, and knead vigorously until it becomes silky-smooth. Divide the dough into balls for coloring.
Make a divot in the center of the ball, and drop some food coloring1 in. Fold the dough over, working the food color through the body of the playdough, trying to keep the raw dye away from your hands and the counter. You could use gloves or plastic wrap at this stage to keep your hands clean- only the concentrated dye will color your skin, so as soon as it’s worked in bare hands are fine.
Work the dye through, adding more as necessary to achieve your chosen color.
If you use unsweetened drink mix for color, test on a small ball first- it won’t go as far as the “real” food coloring.
Play with your playdough- I really don’t need to help you there. It’s entirely edible, if a bit salty, so it’s kid-safe.
When you’re done, store your playdough in an air-tight container.
– If it begins to dry out, you can knead a bit of water in again to soften the dough back to useability. Once it’s dried past a certain point, however, you’ll just have to start over; thankfully it’s not terribly difficult.
– If it gets soggy, you can re-heat it to drive off the extra water the dough absorbed overnight. This is usually the result of high humidity, but is fixable!
You can also bake it in the oven to make hard dough figures and ornaments, then paint or otherwise decorate the surface.
Thanks, Saving My Family Money!