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How to Make Playdough (Play-doh)

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introHow to Make Playdough (Play-doh)

Make your own non-toxic toy with custom colors and fragrances.
How to Make Playdough (Play-doh)
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step 1Ingredients

Playdough is a classic childhood toy everyone can have fun with, and it's so easy to make at home you'll never buy that stinky store variety again.Basic ingredient ratios:2…


step 2Mix and heat

Mix all of the ingredients together, and stir over low heat. The dough will begin to thicken until it resembles mashed potatoes. When the dough pulls away from the sides …


step 3Knead & color

Turn the dough out onto a clean counter or silicone mat, and knead vigorously until it becomes silky-smooth. Divide the dough into balls for coloring. Make a divot in the…


step 4Play and store

Play with your playdough- I really don't need to help you there. It's entirely edible, if a bit salty, so it's kid-safe. When you're done store it in an air-tight conta…


345 comments
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Nov 2, 2009. 12:25 PMHolly Beeson says:
This dough turned out awesome! I cooked it a bit longer then I thought just to make sure it wouldn't be too sticky and it's wonderful! Thank you!
Oct 29, 2009. 11:36 AMbasia dabrowski says:
 tried it , it doesnt work try 3 cups of flour, 1 cup of water, 3 tablespoons of oil (add more if you want soft play dough) , 1/2 cup of salt, add 10 drops or more, and mix well. that way you dont have to buy cream of tar tar

Jan 2, 2008. 1:03 PMjennabanana says:
So my mom has a recipe for play doh that doesn't require cooking. Its so EASY! I'm making it for a demonstration speech in speech class.

Here's the recipe:

3cups four
1/3 cup salt
2tbsp oil (veg)
1cup water
7 drops food coloring.

mix dry ingredients with oil. add food coloring to water and mix together. add water to flour/salt/oil mixture slowly~about 1/4 cup at a time and mix together with a spoon. once you've added all the water, knead the dough with your hands.

Basically this playdoh kicks butt ha ha. try it out and let me know how it worked for you!
Oct 16, 2009. 5:13 PMbrittaniwilliams says:
do u have to cook the play dough this is my 1st time makeing it

plz reply
Oct 4, 2009. 11:15 AMBSmitty358 says:
oh my
that was the best recipe for playdoh
thx jennabanana
Sep 23, 2009. 10:28 PMsomeoneyoudontknow... says:
o my gosh I'm doing the exact same thing! pretty cool :)
Aug 17, 2009. 12:43 PMSyn-D says:
I tried it at first it was soggy so i got frustrated but kept molding and it worked fine
Jul 29, 2009. 5:28 PMsnikhitha says:
thanks jennabanana it works awesome it kicks the butt.
Jul 27, 2009. 11:17 AMangelaka says:
Thanks so much for the recipe. My six year old daughter made a batch today and she is having so much fun!
Jul 12, 2009. 4:05 AMstrangebike says:
Hi ya Jennabanana,
Just made your palydoh as I work in a preschool and when we make our normal dough there is a disconnection between the manufacture and the product, so a non cook option looks good. Only comments I have on your recipe is the mixture ends up a bit sticky and due to the food colouring it stains the hands (yes I have red hands but not badly) the addition of a small amount of flour in the kneading process brought the sticky ness down to sensible levels. But this doesn't seem to bother my guinea pig (my 4 year old) who is even at this very moment battering it into submission and cutting it in to pieces.

On the positive side( Especially for those who work in the preschool environment ) our daughter seems to be having more fun with this over the cook method.I think this is that she has made and got it with no interruption so has really engaged. It might be Monday morning doh when you need the stuff as soon as and the kids can play with this while the cooked stuff is cooling and getting beaten into submission.

The colours are much more vibrant then the cooked stuff for the same amount of input.

cheers Richard
Jul 9, 2009. 7:23 AMgetknown says:
This sounds great for my class of kids I`m teaching in Japan. They are only 3 years old so the non cooking method is better. I will try it tomorrow. You`re a life saver!
Jul 6, 2009. 3:39 PMchanny1965 says:
can you add cream of tartar to this to make it more elastic as in the cookable play-dough.
Jul 2, 2009. 3:17 PMlove2makeit says:
OK, I am lovin' this recipe. TI was so fast to make, and no heating which is a bonus. The kids loved it. Thanks for sharing it.
Jun 30, 2009. 6:17 PMwmcquill says:
I have to do a speech also. How exactly did you do yours and how did you grade?
Did you use power point? Send some more info. This sounds interesting.
Jun 14, 2009. 3:17 PMLineve59 says:
Jenna how much does this recipe make??I am doing it for rec therapy at some group homes so i need to buy the ingrediants.......need to know how much to double or triple the recipe
Apr 21, 2009. 11:27 PMsolopach says:
Yeah Jenna, your recipe rocks.
Mar 22, 2009. 10:08 PMdodo91 says:
did you mean 3cups flour?
Mar 11, 2009. 7:48 AMflirtyrae13 says:
Thanks for the no cook version! I just made it for my little boy in less than 5 minutes and it turned out great!
Feb 27, 2009. 7:30 PMplzspoilme25 says:
wonders if it hardens the same....if ur looking more for a clay? an even easier way includes only 3 ingredients flour, water, and salt, and add color if u want. measure twice.....i'm bad at exact measures, make sure u use dry cup measure for the dry stuff, and liquid measure for the liquid stuff, trust me a little bit can make a big diffrence. i'm guessing they all work for diffrent kinds of things, tnx for all the info on this. seems to be as many diff ways to do this as there are for making cake, LOL
Apr 13, 2009. 11:24 AMsharlston says:
IF YOU PUT HOMEMADE PLAY DOUGH IN THE OVEN TO HARDEN THE WATER IN IT EVEAPORATES AND THEN IT GOES HOLLOW
Nov 28, 2008. 1:13 PMJAMJAMJAM says:
this was so fun to make when i had a friend sleeping over, we got it a bit wrong because we added too much water but in the end it was great, BABY PINK playdough..
THANKS =]

Jan 27, 2009. 10:57 AMhello12 says:
hi jammmmmmmmm for short recipe was sick its great but it came out sticky for sum odd reason aniway reply b

Oct 25, 2008. 9:09 AMjasmine-leah says:
Hi Jennabanana. Thanks for the recipe. My daughter wanted to play with playdoh & it had dried up so I wanted a quick recipe. I was busy & this took me like 3 mins. This one's amazing. We now have loads of pink playdoh. So quick & easy ~ thank you !
Oct 24, 2008. 1:28 PMchelSEAbee says:
hey Jennabanan i tried this recipe...
guess what i liked it alot more than the one that requires cooking its less exspensive and no cream of tartar that stuff is exspensive tanks so much!!!
Jul 25, 2008. 9:23 AMyoyorocketgirl01 says:
I was wondering the recipe says salt and the picture is sea salt is there a difference, or can I use reg. salt?
Jul 21, 2008. 10:36 AMmadhops0620 says:
lol im assuming that where it says " 3 cups of four" that you meant, 3 cups of flour
Jul 17, 2008. 2:50 PMHellokittybaby1206 says:
What I would like to know... Is there a way to make this with out Making 3 Cups of one color? Maybe I can make 1 cup each of different colors. How would I go about doing this?
Jul 21, 2008. 10:40 AMRedgerr says:
just dont add the color right away, make it-- then break it into little bits. then you can color what you want with whatever you want :)
Jul 5, 2008. 5:46 PMheadphoned says:
Umm.... That's just a recipe for dough. Take out the food coloring and throw in some yeast and you've got your basic bread/pizza dough.

Still cool, though.
Jun 7, 2008. 4:35 PMcutienxtdoor says:
i think this recipie rocks so much more than the one you have to cook, thanks
May 18, 2008. 9:03 AMzoundsPadang says:
dude i've been looking all over and i just cant find a bag of four any more! I have no idea where i'm going to get three whole cups of it.

;)
Jul 5, 2008. 6:38 PMDrWeird117 says:
giant eagle or acme ; )
May 5, 2008. 12:34 PMseniorbch says:
you know how you said 3cups four did you mean flour i hope u did
May 5, 2008. 6:26 AMseniorbch says:
your right that ingrediant really works
Apr 18, 2008. 4:17 AMteenaanne says:
hi is it just plain flour u use
Apr 15, 2008. 7:59 PMMarrie21 says:
Dang that does work good thankz I used it a project
Apr 15, 2008. 7:58 PMMarrie21 says:
Dang that does work good thankz i used it a project
Apr 6, 2008. 11:29 AMgweneviere97 says:
I really am interested in your recipe for playdoh but I am a teacher of 14 kids and wanted to know how many balls of playdoh can I use with this one recipe? Thank you very much
Mar 31, 2008. 3:52 AMcativa says:
Sounds good jennabanana. I am going to make it now!
Feb 6, 2008. 6:21 PMpeach rose says:
thanks! im going to try it
Jan 18, 2008. 9:03 AMstinkbutt says:
thanks i deaf and me like this better it faster i go to ISD in iowa and i going to use yours for my demontration speech (in sign language) haha lol
how old r u?
Oct 7, 2009. 5:26 PMwixx says:
 i have tried making dis once and it came out good but den these boys ruined it and mixed the 2 play-doughs together and it was ruined
but besides that it was good
Sep 20, 2009. 1:49 PMchillifilli says:
sweet im gunna try makin this 4my 2 n 3yr olds mite get sum peace 2day!! lol
Sep 20, 2009. 5:42 AMiteachart4u says:
Everyones suggestions, comments and ideas are great. I will have my students mix their own ingredients in a ziplock bag as well as they dye so that they don't go home with colorful hands. In addition, I think the ziplock bags would be great for students that are tactile sensitive. Once it is not too sticky, they can take it out of the bags and knead it on a sheet of wax paper. The ziplock bags can be cleaned out and used again for them to store their play dough. Thanks everyone.
Sep 18, 2009. 5:00 AMlily-bell says:
my daughter uses powdered kool-aide, flour and salt i think.....
Sep 17, 2009. 6:33 PMgeeklord says:
My sister says thanks for the great recipe, it helped out with a school project (I have no idea what it was). She says it took her about 10 minutes, probably less.
Mar 8, 2009. 10:00 AMEcchin says:
This was made with different types of food... Doesn't it rotten? :x I don't want mole on my play doh
Sep 9, 2009. 12:21 PMadelie says:
According to the wiki page on play-doh, borax is used as a reasonably non-toxic preservative. I expect that not much more than a teaspoon would be plenty to have the desired effect. Of course, look into it a bit. Borax is used as a preservative in many noodles, but also illegal in some countries (as a food preservative) for potential health risks.
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