Homemade Play-dough Recipe

This week during art, my art teacher bought the wrong type of clay for us to use, so she let us make our own play-dough. Without giving us a recipe to use, I decided to experiment. I started out with some flour, hot water, and salt and it turned out great! I was able to make the Gargoyle (the art project), and it was great for my siblings to play with the leftovers. With some new tweaks and changes, today I am sharing a very easy recipe for homemade play-dough, made with simple ingredients at your house!

Are you a parent that needs something to keep the kids busy? This play-dough is very fun to make (I wanted to make it instead of cookies *gaspppp* and not gonna lie, it is pretty satisfying! I added cream of tartar and a bit of oil. This created a clean, but perfect textured play dough!

Questions you may have:

Why do we need to add salt? Can I omit it?

I found when I didn’t use salt, it was harder to break apart the dough. The boiling water will “melt” it so it will be a smoother and more moist texture, but not sticky. Also, make sure you use fine or table salt, so it dissolves best.

Does this dough dry?

Yes it does! This can be good for those who like to create things with this, but bad for those who simply want to play with it. To prevent drying, after playing with this dough, store in an air-tight container.

How much does this make?

This play-dough makes 3/4 cup of dough, which is good for one person. If you have many kids, double the recipe, triple it, etc.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp of cream of tar tar, or cornstarch
• 2 tbsp of fine or table salt
• 1/3 cup of hot water (add gradually)
• 1 tsp of oil

1. In a medium mixing bowl, with a fork, mix together the flour, cream of tartar (or cornstarch), and salt until combined. Break up flour clumps, if any.
2. Add oil to the hot water. Then, a tablespoon at a time, add the hot water-oil mixture gradually. If you over-measured your flour, you may need more water, but sometimes on humid days you may need less. I typically use the whole 1/3 cup.
3. Mix until combined with the fork, then pour the contents onto a clean surface.
4. Knead with your hands (so the dough comes together) for about 2-3 minutes. Then, you should have nice play-dough ready to play with!
5. You can also dye the dough (or divide) however you would like.

*this play-dough is non-toxic, but not recommended to eat hahaha.

I have decided to dedicate each of my new posts to someone! Keep an eye out if you want one dedicated to you! This post is dedicated to Laurel, my sister. She made the playdough in the photos with me, and I couldn’t be more grateful for her ❤