The BEST homemade playdough recipe – make in less than 5 minutes for under a $1 and have it last for months! It is so soft and squishy and cuts perfectly with cookie cutters.

Favorite Kids Activity
One of my kids favorite activities is playing with play dough. It is the perfect indoor activity for when it’s raining, too cold or too hot. When the weather’s nice we’ll even take it outside on the porch. My kids (age 8, 6 and 2) ALL love playing with play dough. My son pretends like he’s outgrowing it, but whenever my girls start playing with it, he always ends up joining in on the fun. I usually give them a few different colors, a mini rolling pin, some cookie cutters and let them go to town. I love seeing their imagination work.
Why is this the best homemade playdough recipe?
- It is SUPER soft and squishy, but doesn’t stick
- The play dough lasts for months in a zip top bag
- It is inexpensive to make
- It makes enough for 4-6 kids
- You can add different colors and even scents to customize your dough
We love making our own play dough, because it is so much softer (and cheaper) than the store bought stuff. I find it also lasts longer as well. Over the years I’ve tried dozens of recipes and this one here is the best playdough recipe out there! I got it several years ago from my son’s preschool teacher and figured I better post it to my blog so I don’t have to keep searching for it. At their preschool, the parents take turns making the play dough a different color each month and once I used this recipe, I haven’t looked back. I have slightly adapted the original recipe over the years. The main thing that I have done is cut down on the salt, as I found it keeps the dough extra soft for months!
How to make playdough
Playdough ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup salt
- 4 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 2 cups lukewarm water
- 2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil (coconut oil works too)
- Food coloring, optional (I like Wilton gel food coloring or AmeriColor gel)
- Quart sized bags
Stir together the flour, salt and cream of tartar in a large pot. Next add the water and oil. If you’re only making one color, add in the the color now as well. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the dough has thickened and begins to form into a ball. Remove from heat and then place inside a gallon sized bag or onto wax paper. Allow to cool slightly and then knead until smooth. If you’re adding colors after, divide the dough into balls (for how many colors you want) and then add the dough into the quart sized bags. Start with about 5 drops of color (my favorite brands are listed above) and add more to brighten it. Knead the dough, while inside the bag so it doesn’t stain your hands. Once it’s all mixed together you’re ready to PLAY.
Store the play dough inside the bags once done to keep soft. Keeps for up to 3 months.
Once the dough is finished, I like to put each dough ball into it’s own quart sized zip top bag. Then I let my kids squish the colors together. It gives the kids something to do, makes it so your hands aren’t stained and then gives the dough a home after. We use the same bag to store the dough when the kids are done playing with it. If you only plan on making ONE color, just add the food coloring into the pan when you add the water (makes it easier to mix it in). My kids can never decide on just one color, so we usually need to divide it out.
Need more kid friendly activities? Make homemade slime, fluffy slime or this recipe for butter slime, too!
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How to Make Homemade Playdough
Video
Equipment
- Spoon for stirring
- Gallon size bag or wax paper for cooling
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup salt
- 4 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 2 cups lukewarm water
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil (coconut oil works too)
Optional: food coloring (I use Wilton for brighter colors)
Instructions
- Stir together the flour, salt and cream of tartar in a large pot. Next add the water and oil. If you’re only making one color, stir in the the color now.
- Cook over medium-heat, stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the dough has thickened and begins to form into a ball. Remove from heat and then place inside a bowl. Allow to cool slightly and then knead until smooth.
- If you’re adding multiple colors, divide the dough into balls (for how many colors you want) and then add the dough into seperate quart sized bags. Start with about 5 drops of color and add more to brighten it. Knead the dough, while inside the bag so it doesn’t stain your hands.
- Once it’s all mixed together, you’re ready to PLAY. Store the play dough inside the bags to keep soft. If stored properly it will keep soft for up to 3 months.
Notes
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Another fun addition to the play dough is to add glitter. We added about 1/4 cup to the bag and kneaded it in with blue and yellow.
My almost 2 year old loves squishing the dough. I love watching those chubby little fingers go to work.
My 6 year old daughter loves pulling out the cookie cutters and making all kinds of designs! She is quite the girly girl. ;)
Make a batch for your kids once school is out for a summer to remember!
Thank you for this recipe. I had bought my daughter some play dough from the DollerTree and it was tough even when it was brand new. I felt sorry for her and then found this reciepe with simple ingredients I already had on hand. Pretty easy to make even tough I only had half the cream of tarter you recommended it still turned out nice. I even added some different sents. I had vanilla extract for the yellow. Mint extract for the green and some peppermint for the red. She loves it, so much softer than store bought even the name brand play dough isn’t this nice. This will keep her entertained for a long time. Thanks again.
I’m so glad this recipe turned out well for you! The scents sound amazing!
Our whole family joined in and made a batch for a birthday boy friend for his 3rd birthday! We had so much fun. Even Dad loved rolling and blending the colors. Although.. we are wondering.. how do you get that gorgeous purple?!?!!
I’m so glad you had fun making them with your family! We just mixed blue and red until we got a good purple color!
Why do we need cream of tartar?
Hi Gabi! Cream of tartar is an acid and is used in cooking as a stabilizing agent. It helps with the consistency and the shelf life.
This truly is the BEST playdough recipe I have found! It makes a large batch, and it is not super sticky after you knead it.
I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks for leaving a comment!
This might sound d silly, but o very we make it and play with it then bag it up, does it need to be refrigerated to stay fresh / soft?!?
It will be fine at room temperature!
My kids have been sick and this was great craft!
So easy to make. My 2.5 year old loved picking out the color we made and was so excited to play with it after it was finished. The instructions were easy to follow and it came out perfect.
Sounds like a perfect activity! So glad your toddler enjoyed it!
Just made this for my 16 month old! She loves it. It did turn out pretty sticky..I had to add alot more flour when kneading, which made it better. Just wondering if I should add more than 2 cups when cooking?
Hi Anna! If it’s a bit sticky, I would recommend letting it sit on some wax paper for 10-15 minutes to set. If it’s still a little sticky you can add a little more flour.
FTM here…I made this recipe this afternoon for my 2 -year old son. It made a good amount. It was super easy and came out beautifully! Worth noting (for rookies such as myself) at first it was a bit sticky, so I thought I did something wrong. I let it sit on some wax paper for about 10 minutes and it was perfect. I also read that if it’s still a little sticky after letting it sit for a few minutes you can add a sprinkle more flour. Great recipe. Looking forward to playing with this for a few months! Much cheaper than the store bought stuff and it smells better too!
I’m so glad it turned out well for you! Thanks for your tips!
I think this dough will be nice to handle once I get to making it. Thx for the great ideas I’ll be using this site a lot now!!! ❤️
Have fun! :)
Perfect consistently! I almost can’t believe how well this came together! I will never buy play dough again!! Thanks so much for this amazing recipe and reminding me how much I love being a mommy!
I’m so glad you enjoyed making this!
I make one using koolaid for color and scent instead of food coloring
Great idea! :)
I just made this today and I scored big Mama points!!! Thank you so much.
You are very welcome! :)
Love this! How did you get the colors to mix so smoothly into the dough? Mine has more of a marble look, which is nice, but I’d love to make a batch like yours. Thanks!
More coloring will give you a deeper color! :)
Oh wow..just WOW…PERFECT RECIPE!!! Thank you so very much for posting this. A keeper for sure. The only thing I worry about is how it lasts 3 months? There is no preservatives..I would think it would mold quickly no?
I’ve never had problem with molding. The cream of tartar keeps it fresh!
My 3 year old Grandson Huddy and I made this playdough together this morning; what a great recipe! He was enthralled with the process and had great fun perfecting his own color hue and played with the finished product for nearly an hour… WIN!
Hi. Thanks for the recipe, our 2,5 twins loved it.
Do we need To keep the ziplocks in the fridge when we try keeping it for a few months?
Thanks again
So glad they had fun with it! You can keep it at room temperature. :)
I made the play dough gluten/wheat-free. I followed the recipe, but used a cup-for-cup gluten-free flour blend. I cooked for a little longer, because the dough was pretty sticky. I turned it out on a plate to cool and to dry out (the dough is a little sticky due to the difference in flour), I kneaded it every once in a while over 3 to 4 hours of cooling/drying out. I put the dough in a plastic bag overnight and added cupcake scent and food coloring the next day, and it turned out perfect. This is a great idea for kids with food sensitivities or allergies.