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!
Categorized as: DIY
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
Can you use sea salt?
That should be fine!
I just made this for the 3rd time. So easy! I didn’t have white flour so I used whole wheat flour and it worked perfectly. Since the dough was brown to start with the colors weren’t bright, but the result was a nice look, like color-stained wood 😀
I’m glad to know it will work the wheat flour too! Thanks for sharing!
Just wondering whether you store this in the zip lock bags in the fridge or room temp???
Hi Susie! I store it at room temperature. :)
I made this and it’s amazing. Just like the real thing Was so easy to make. I stored mine in little plastic containers.
I’m glad it turned out well for you! Thanks for your comment Cath!
Best DIY playdough recipe ever. Have tried many.
I’m so glad to hear that!
That was surprisingly easy and satisfying!
I baked it at low, great for gifts or magnets!
Great recipe! Thank you. It is easy and fun. my four year old son and I had a wonderful time making it. He absolutely loves it!
I’m so happy to hear that he had fun with this! Thanks for your comment!
Wonderful playdough! It was a breeze to whip up and has a great consistency. I added a few drops of lavender essential oil to make it more therapeutic. Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed making it! The lavender sounds divine. Such a great idea!
This is the best playdoh recipe ever! So enjoyed making and playing with it so much with my little. And shared the recipe with my friends on my instagram. Thank you so much!❤️
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for leaving a comment and sharing it with friends!
Fantastic Recipe!
The play dough came out great really soft and squishy. I have noticed a slight flour residue left behind from it and I was wondering if you have any ideas on what I could do better to rectify that. It’s really just a minor nuisance but I thought maybe having done this many times over the years you may have encountered it and figured out the solution.
I’m glad it turned out soft and squishy for you. As you continue to need the flour residue it should go away!
In a hurry to make two batches, I didn’t read the entire recipe through – mistake! After mixing water and dough, not finding the iodized salt canister, remembered the ice cream maker salt, measured it out, added it to the warming mixture, turned down the heat, and stirred, stirred, and the rock salt didn’t melt as fast as the dough stiffened. Resulting dough has rocky salt pieces, so I didn’t offer it at our community fair as an activity for the kids. What can I do with it now? Any suggestions? I thought of calling it “chunky Play-Dough” but not sure if wee ones would pick out the salt bits and think it is candy. Have not colored nor added scent extracts to not encourage eating, but it could be baked hard and painted, or is there another use?
Hi! I’ve never made it with ice cream salt before, but I think those are both good ideas! I don’t think there’s much else you could do with it unfortunately!
Loved making this for my children when they were younger. They are now married with children and now finding myself making this same recipe for my 3 year old grandson.
Great recipe. Last’s for months in a air tight container
Highly recommend it
Thank you for your comment! We love this play dough as well!
The play dough recipe worked out great ! The cookie cutters are a great addition. My 2 yr old will have endless fun .
Easy to make. colors make it interesting for her.
I’m so glad it turned out great for you and your daughter! Thanks for your comment. :)
My dough came out looking gorgeous but it comes off on our hands, so it’s still a bit sticky! Anyway to rectify this ??
Thank you!!
Hi Virginia! It gets a little less sticky once you knead it, but I would recommend adding more flour while it is in the pot still!
This really IS the best playdough. My grandma used to make for me as a child. I had lost her recipe. So thankful to find this:)
Great recipe. Worked well. Gets a bit hard to mix as its close to done cooking.
I’m glad you had fun with it! :)
I have always made my kids play dough with a recipe that I think is very similar to this one. They always loved it! Now I’m making it for my grandson! I have a wonderful tip from way back then… use drink mix without the sugar added to color AND scent it! And it’s cheaper than food coloring!
Great idea! Thanks for sharing!