Home The Weekend Report Homemade Play Dough

Homemade Play Dough

by Jamie
Homemade Play Dough?
Seriously!?
Oh.
Yes. 
I am totally serious.
You can make  homemade play dough with
just a few basic ingredients.
This is not a joke.
I know that play dough is pretty darn cheap at the store.
However, sometimes I need a little activity to keep little hands busy without running myself to the store.
Time with my kids sitting with busy hands
at the kitchen counter while I make
My mom made this play dough for us when I was growing up.
We loved it, and my kids love it now as well.
It really only takes about 15 minutes to put one batch together.
That’s not much time!
Then your kids
 will be rolling
and cutting
and shaping
and keeping themselves busy for just a little while.
Sometimes a “little while” is needed.
Especially if the “little while” puts a smile on their faces,
and on yours!
Homemade Play Dough
Yield: about 3 C play dough
Time: 15 minutes, per batch
Recipe from my mom, Pam Willahan
1 C flour
1/2 C salt
1 C water
1 T vegetable or canola oil
1 t cream of tartar
1/2 t food coloring of choice
Note: You will need to make separate batches for each color you would like to make. I usually only make 1 batch…when I make more than one, they mix them all together any way.
1. Place all ingredients in a medium sized sauce pan. I used these great Wilton Icing Colors as the food coloring. You can find them at Walmart, or any craft store. They make the colors very vivid and bright. You can most definitely use regular food coloring (which is actually what I have used every time I have made it, my entire life, except for the time I was taking these fine pictures for you fine readers.)
2. Over medium heat, stir the mixture all around until it is warmed and begins to stick together like so. This should take about 5 minutes.
3. Set the dough on some wax paper and knead it just a bit. Just a bit now…you don’t need to plan half an hour of your day to knead the dough. Just give it a 5 or 6 pulls with your hand.
That’s it!
Hooray, now wasn’t that easy as pie.
However, I will warn you. It does not taste like pie. This play dough is not for eating like this dough, and this dough,
I am not afraid of raw eggs folks.
The Homemade Play dough should be stored in a Ziploc bag and lasts for a long time.
Months even!
That was 15 minutes well spent.
Pat yourself on the back!
This boy was attacked by his
fingernail-painting sisters.
Don’t anyone go teasing him now.
He’s a sensitive soul, though he seems thick skinned.

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9 comments

Maranda June 17, 2010 - 10:20 pm

Hahaha!! Awesome! My daughter just played with play dough for the first time today! This definitely comes in handy!

Reply
Becky June 17, 2010 - 10:22 pm

This was the only kind of play dough we used growing up! My mom would mix up a batch, leaving the food coloring out, then once it was cool enough to handle she divided it up and kneaded in the colors so we could have different colors from one batch. My sisters and I each got to choose a color of our own so we wouldn't argue over who was stealing whose!

Reply
Becky McKenzie June 20, 2010 - 1:13 pm

My neighbor did a fun thing once with the homemade play dough- she didn't have any food coloring on hand so she used a little grape kool-aid. It turned it purple and it smelled really good, too. We were worried it would come off on their hands, but it didn't!

Reply
Rosabela June 23, 2010 - 3:18 am

Thanks for sharing this!!! I am so making this for my two year old. He loves to stand on a chair and help me cook. This will definitely keep him busy for a while as I cook. Thanks again for sharing this!

Reply
Jeanne October 25, 2010 - 1:27 pm

My daughter and I had so much fun making play dough this weekend! We made about 5 batches.

Reply
Anonymous August 7, 2011 - 4:00 am

The color is fabulous, so I guess I am going to have to consider a change of food coloring for my MOPS preschoolers.
Thanks for the smile brought on by the fingernail-painting enthusiast. My only daughter wishes she could persuade just one of her brothers, but there have been no takers.

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