Home Made Play Dough

Home Made Play Dough

If you are like me and the play dough you do have around the house is so multi-colored from the kids playing with it your dough looks like spumoni or it is all crusted up and dried it is not little chunks of hard rock. Then you can make this play dough for your family without having to spend tons of money at the toy store. There are plenty of recipes out there for you to find and you can test them out until you find one you like. I tend to pick my recipe by the ingredients. I like to try out a recipe with ingredients that I already buy or have on hand. That way if I don’t like the end result of the recipe I did not have to go out and buy a bunch of expensive ingredients that I will never use again. Both of the recipes can be altered as you wish because it is your play dough! Try to be creative, like use a bit of Cool-aid power mixed with water to give your dough a sweeter kid friendlier smell, or use some scented oil. Be careful to keep it safe. Don’t use anything that could cause a rash or be toxic. The great thing about most home made play dough recipes is that most are non-toxic. There are some edible and good tasting play dough recipes out there so be creative.

Play Dough Recipe #1

2 cups flour
2 cups warm water
1 cup salt
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon cream of tartar

About 6 drops of different colored food coloring

Mix all of the ingredients together except for the food coloring. Stir over low heat. The dough will begin to thicken. When the dough pulls away from the sides and clumps in the center remove from heat and cool. It should feel like play dough at this point. If it does not you should cook it longer. 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 play dough, 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.

Store in an air tight container.

Play Dough Recipe #2

3 cups four
1/3 cup salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup water
About 6-7 drops food coloring.

First mix the dry ingredients with the oil. Then in a separate bowl add food coloring to water and mix together. Add both mixtures together slowly, adding about a 1/4 cup of liquid at a time. Mixing well as you go with a spoon. Once you have added all the liquid to the dry take the dough out of the bowl and knead it until it is completely mixed.