The BEST Playdough Recipe
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No need to ever buy store-bought play doh after you try our homemade playdough recipe! This easy playdough recipe takes 5 minutes to prep and 5 minutes to make. And the playdough will last for months! It’s super soft, stretchy and non-toxic for kids. With just a few ingredients your kids will love playing with this playdough.
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The BEST Playdough Recipe
We have tried a few recipes before that require you to mix the coloring in after the playdough is made. This was SO messy! We got food coloring all over our hands and surfaces doing it this way. You’ll love this method because there’s no need for bags to mix the coloring with and no mess too!
It’s easy to make a batch of all different colors for the kids to play with. Just store the finished playdough in an air-tight container. It will help to also wrap it in some saran wrap to keep the air from touching the playdough which can make it go hard.
How to Make Playdough
There are many ways to make playdough – using a stove-top or using a kettle with boiling water. Personally, we prefer the stove-top method. We find it’s easier to mix the ingredients in the pot. There are also no-cook playdough options but we also prefer this cooked playdough recipe. We find this recipe to last the longest and be the softest. This recipe only takes a few minutes to make and it will last for months!
Here are the ingredients you’ll need: Flour, Cream of Tartar, Water, Food Coloring, Salt. Skip down to the recipe card below to see the full recipe instructions and video.
Do you need cream of tartar? Yes, if you want a soft playdough and want it to last longer, you need to add a little bit of cream of tartar. We tested different amounts and found 2 teaspoons to be the perfect amount to make the playdough super soft. If you skip the cream of tartar your dough may turn out a bit more dry and crumbly. It also helps your playdough last longer.
How do you get vibrant playdough colors? We like to use this liquid food coloring. It makes the playdough much more vibrant than regular food coloring. If you’re using regular food coloring, you’ll need to add in a lot of drops. And don’t mix after you make the playdough – add it into the water instead which is so much easier and less messy!
How to Keep Playdough Soft
First wrap your playdough in saran wrap then store in an air-tight container. You’ll notice that playdough will go hard if left out – so the less air that can get to the playdough when storing, the longer it will last!
How Do I Make Playdough Soft Again?
If your playdough dries out and turns out to be a little dry after making it, try adding in a little more oil first. You can knead the oil in with your hands. You can also knead in a little bit of water.
Homemade Playdough Recipe
Playdough Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/2 cup salt
- 1 tbsp cooking oil Olive oil or vegetable oil
- 1 cup water
- food coloring
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine all of your dry ingredients (flour, salt, cream of tartar) and mix well.
- Mix food coloring with your water first. Then add the vegetable oil and water with food coloring to a large pot. Mix together.
- Add the dry ingredients to your pot and mix well.
- Cook over low to medium heat until the dough starts to form and becomes dry.
- Once it starts to form a ball together and looks fully cooked, take off the heat. Let the dough cool first before touching.
- Once cool, knead the dough for 5 minutes to make the dough soft.
Video
Notes
Now that you’re done making your playdough, get out some cookie cutters and have fun making shapes! We also like using rolling pins and stamps to play with our playdough.
Try our scented playdough recipes!
we made this today however it is veryyyy sticky. both batches, any suggestions?
Make sure to keep cooking until it looks like it’s forming a nice ball, if you under cook it will be a little sticky. You can also add a little more flour to it.
This recipe is awesome!
I just tried it for the first time ever as a babysitting activity. It was so much fun, and really easy to make. Thanks so much!
Best playdough recipe EVER! It’s so soft and fluffy, doesn’t leave oily residue every where or fall into tiny little pieces that end up all over the place. Love love love! Added a few drops of lavender essential oil too, smells divine!
I really enjoyed this it was fast and easy to make and my daughter thought it was pretty cool. I’m always looking for new things to do with her so this was an awesome surprise for her. Thank you
we have cabin fever so just made this we had to grind the salt so the final product was a little chunky. we also substituted baking soda and vinegar for cream of tartar – which was fun because those two ingredients fizzled. thanks for the recipe. your site is super fun!
Do you have any tips for making a pure white dough?
Yes to make pure white you can get white liquid food coloring to add to it.
Hi! Thanks for the recipe. Is there an alternative to cream of tartar?
You can leave it out – it may not last as long or be as smooth but you can make it without.
This is an awesome recipe! My mom is allergic to the scent of regular Playdo so this alternative is much better and just ad good as the store bought stuff. My nephew loved measuring and mixing and kneading. A great hour we spent preparing and playing!
Super soft texture. Easy to make.
I have used this recipe for years in my Daycare, now making it for a preschool class I work in, I keep each color in a zip lock and keep it all in a sealed container in fridge. It last forever
Do you stir the dough while it is cooking?
Yes keep stirring until it forms a ball and looks like it is fully cooked.
I started using this recipe almost 25 years ago. It is absolutely the best! And it does last for months and months.
Do you know what will happen if I use self raising flour? Plain is hard to come by at the moment 🙁
We haven’t tried that but you can certainly try and see how it turns out!
How to store the playdough and how long does it keep.
Hi Donna – store your playdough in an air tight container. We like to wrap in saran wrap then place in a container. It should last at least a month if not longer! 🙂
I followed the steps listed but when my child played with it, it got really sticky , why? Stuck to their hands. What did I do wrong?
It could be that you needed a little more flour. If it’s too sticky you can add a little more flour to the mixture. Otherwise you do need to knead it for quite some time before playing with it. Kneading it will help mix everything together and make it not sticky.
Can wheat flour be used instead of white? Thanks
That should be fine – it may be a little more of a gritty texture since whole wheat flour has more texture to it.
I don’t usually use food coloring in my dough, but adding the color to the water instead of trying to mix it in later is genius! I also like to add a few drops of high quality essential oil during the kneading process to create sensory dough. Lavender once kept a class of 4 year olds calm during the day!
Yes!! It’s so much easier this way 🙂