How to Make Playdough (Play-doh)

Step 2: Mix 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 and clumps in the center, as shown below, remove the pan from heat and allow the dough to cool enough to handle.

IMPORTANT NOTE: if your playdough is still sticky, you simply need to cook it longer!
Keep stirring and cooking until the dough is dry and feels like playdough.
I've gotten many comments asking about sticky dough, so please just keep cooking a bit longer and it will work!

Comments

[ILoveOwls]

Is there anyway to use less salt?

[courtneyinnz]

arh don't add cinnamon it makes you want to eat it and believe me you don't want to eat it!

[slipz]

instead of warming it on the stove i used the microwave for about 3 mins butr check in between.....took less the time. :) turned out great and i substituted drink mix and food colouring for about half a pack of jello.....

[pntknanny]

For the scent I added ground cinnamon, it smells awesome and adds a brown coloring.

[Rayven666]

adding grounded cinnamon is a great idea i love cinnamon xD

[possom pie]

I have noticed that most recipes call for veg. oil and regular sal, what are the benefits for sea salt and canola oil? thanks

[dhooves]

They'll also probably work but, Veg. oil and Regular salt is recomended.

[possom pie]

when do you add the scent and is the bottle ones you can get at crafts stores that are used for candles.

[dlynn4]

I have tried cooking it longer but the dough is still sticky......how can I fix it? I am actually in the process of trying to cook it again at this very moment

[awong17]

1. 2 cups wheat flour + 1 Tablespoon cream of tartar = Sieve them first
2. Add in 1 cup of fine salt
3. stir in the warm water + 2 tablespoon of vegetable oil with a fork until there are no more lumps. You can sieve the mixture again to remove lumps.
4. Pour into a non stick pan. Then stir over low heat. Keep on stirring. Within minutes, the dough will become playdough.

I did it this way, and it worked! For yellow i used, tumeric powder. For brown, i used cocoa powder. For green, i used pandanus leaves. And for blue, I used blue pea flower.

Hope this helps. :)

[mrussell101]

I had the exact same problem - spent hours waiting for the concoction to thicken. But today I discovered that the dry and wet ingredients need to be mixed separately and then combined. That made all the difference. It literally took me about 10 minutes, from start-to-finish, to make play dough.

[mrussell101]

I discovered one more thing today -- the water needs to be HOT!

[katie1212]

do you need the creamof taaral

[krazymonkey5454]

does it ruin the pot?

[kadams10]

my mum (this acc) says she did this long ago and it CLEANED the pot

[Spidamonkey610]

YES! you have to wash out the pot with hot water, and dish soap imediatly afterwards or else it does ruin the pot.

[spideee]

yes

[sgsidekick]

All ingreds are regular "food" ingredients.  At worst, you'll have to soak the pan for a bit in water and soap, so you'll be okay.  I wouldn't use a teflon pan or anything, since you may end up doing a bit of scraping if you let it set up on the pan *lol*.  I've made this before, and had no problems.

[arghhh]

i made it and it wrecked my pan but my friend did it and it was fine
:)

[spideee]

mine too kid nice name arghhh

[sgreg]

I tried this recipe without the tartar and it worked great! I saw a comment about scented playdough and I wanted to add that you can also use a packet of koolaid. It smells great and adds colour too!

[canida]

Thanks for the koolaid tip! The cream of tartar just makes it a bit more silky and stretchy in texture, so you can easily get by without it. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[spideee]

your welcome kid

[sammydog123]

cool

[bob the slob]

we used this to make a exploding baking soda volcano....... it started to peel off the base. we took it off and used papper mach'e .( or how ever you spell it.) but any ways, we just use it to make screaming guys

[spideee]

wat up im new here tell me about this thing

[rogerrabbit321]

Does it dry quickly? or does it take like 2 days to harden? or will it just stay soft forever?

[jojo289]

My play dough turned out very sticky! I did what you said and cooked it alot longer but it got worse. i didnt use the cream of tarter, would that be the problem? 

[apples22]

how long does it take?

[angie420]

only about 10 min all together and its really simple and doesn't get to hot- i recommend just a lil above low and it works great- i used canola oil and that seemed to work awesome! have fun!

[wixx]

 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

[hypersaiyan 7]

call me crazy but i LOVE that smell ^_

[ThEbLoB!]

I just looooove playdough so much that i just had to make a huge blob of it today! Thanks 4 your advice on the scented playdough. I'm sure it will make my playdough smell better than the salty, floury smell of it's original oudor. By the way, did you know that playdough was originally made 4 cleaning wallpaper??? ByE ByE!!!!

[sammydog123]

i treid this and got it wrong

[matfu]

Hi i was trying this activite and it just dousint seem to clump. Ive sterd it for more then 5 minutes could you help me here a bit thanks

[aligotskind]

I saw one receipe it did not call for cooking. Can I just knead it without cooking...it is going to be a project for 3-year-old kids.

[sarahteacher]

It does need cooking, but with an adult to add the boling water, this could work with a small group of 3-year olds. I made it with my 2 1/2 year old cousin last month, and it turned out well. Have them use wooden spoons and just keep stirring until it is cool enough to touch. It may be a bit too hard for them to stir alone though. Or make it your self and let them add the colour.

[wishbone]

This one needs to be cooked. It's a horrible mess that can't be kneaded when first mixed but don't worry. It doesn't take much more than five minutes on the heat.