How to Make Playdough (Play-doh)

Intro: How to Make Playdough (Play-doh)

Playdough (aka Play-doh) is easy to make at home, and fun for kids of all ages.  Here's how to make your own non-toxic toy with custom colors and fragrances.

This is the classic method that involves a bit of cooking on the stovetop - I prefer it because cooked playdough has a better texture than uncooked varieties.  If you want the kids to be able to do it all themselves, try this uncooked playdough recipe.

Warning:  Keep away from dogs and other pets.  Playdough smells like people food but contains lots of salt, and a hungry dog can eat enough to cause a dangerous salt imbalance.

STEP 1: Ingredients

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 cups flour
2 cups warm water
1 cup salt
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon cream of tartar (optional for improved elasticity)

food coloring (liquid, powder, or unsweetened Kool-Aid or similar drink mix)
scented oils

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!

STEP 3: Knead & 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 center of the ball, and drop some food coloring1 in. Fold the dough over, working the food color through the body of the playdough, trying to keep the raw dye away from your hands and the counter. You could use gloves, a big ziplock bag, or plastic wrap at this stage to keep your hands clean- only the concentrated dye will color your skin, so as soon as it's worked in bare hands are fine.

Work the dye through, adding more as necessary to achieve your chosen color.

1 If you use Kool-Aid or similar unsweetened drink mix for color, test on a small ball first- it won't go as far as the "real" food coloring.

STEP 4: Play 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 your playdough in an air-tight container.
- If it begins to dry out, you can knead a bit of water in again to soften the dough back to useability. Once it's dried past a certain point, however, you'll just have to start over; thankfully it's not terribly difficult.
- If it gets soggy, you can re-heat it to drive off the extra water the dough absorbed overnight.  This is usually the result of high humidity, but is fixable!

You can also bake it in the oven to make hard dough figures and ornaments, then paint or otherwise decorate the surface.  One of the comments below even suggests using baked play-dough as a salt lick for your pet rabbit!  (thanks, redcore4!)

Comments

[Kikicrafting]

After using coy thro it or put it in the f

[abubakarif80]

i ma

[howellm26]

i love slime

[MSpitfire]

Does it matter what type of oil one uses? Will it turn out the same with Coconut oil?

[amiyah.garner]

yes

[KevinJ235]

amiyah.garner
Can you be more specific? There were two questions. Which one did you answer?
A "yes" answer to "Does it matter what type of oil one uses?" means that it matters and you would have to use the one mentioned.
A "yes" answer to "Will it turn out the same with Coconut oil?" means that it should be "no" to the first question and that it doesn't matter what oil one uses.

[TerriT33]

I used olive oil. Worked out just fine.

[klmcafee1511]

I have been using this exact recipe for years for my own children. I just made a batch this weekend, though, and left its natural color because I will be using it for my pre k classes later this week, while we talk about teeth. I added some cut up pieces of foam to my school batch, so the kids can use tweezers to pick out the “plaque.”

I made a second batch for home, too. I added purple food dye and lavender essential oil. It not only feels good, but it smells good, too!

Also, former batches I have made at home have lasted us multiple years (yes, more than a year). I love this recipe and can’t get enough of it!

[8312295]

i like to make playdoh

[amiyah.garner]

me too

[amiyah.garner]

i love slime

[LFelton]

Add food coloring or the coloring you plan to use to the water. It is much easier than kneading the food color.

[ecc0927]

This is ingenious!!

[352632]

I loved it. It was better than store bought ones! my family was very pleased with the results. I really recommend it. We had lots of fun molding it into different objects.

[Txhoney521]

Made with my grand daughter. When done we put in ziplock and a month later she brought it back to my house to play with it. Lasts long time. Fun to make

[FinweMartinez]

Made some, but it got soggy overnight. Is ok to reheat in microwave? Do i need to add something else when reheating?

[ambport]

no

[KoBob]

Hello FinweMartinez,

I'm not sure how you batch would get soggy overnight, sounds like interesting story. As for your microwave question I have not tried, but I lets consider the normal instructions to warm the dough at low temperatures. When finished, the dough is still "dough" and pliable. When you cook food from a microwave it usually it comes out fast and hot. If you set the time to thirty seconds the dough batch the water evaporates and "cooks". Your microwave may have a defrost feature and it may be possible to warm the dough, like I said earlier I have not tried. If you are going to microwave the dough batch let us know how it turns out. What would be the worst that can happen, throw away a bad batch. I'm sure other people would be interested in your results.

Best regards,

KoBob

[Dewny]

A salt dose ranging from 0.75 grams to 3 grams per kilogram of body weight can kill someone. The one cup of salt in this recipe equates to 240 grams. Therefore consumption this batch has the ability to kill between 80 and 320 lbs of body weight.

A 26 lbs child eating 1/3 of a batch will die if not receiving emergency medical treatment.

I don't think many kids would enjoy eating this but to say it's "entirely edible... kid-safe" is flippantly irresponsible.

Please note, I do not have a problem with this Instructable. I think it's a great idea, recipe and craft. My only objection is to the insinuation that it is "entirely eatable". If a kid eats a small amount there should be no problems. But in every kindergarten class seems to have that one kid that will eat the entire jar of paste or the whole box of crayons. If that kid eats this stuff, the kid will be in serious need of emergency treatment.

[gabrielledearman]

I think the author made that statement to say that the recipe is non-toxic, so if curious little ones take a bite, it won't be toxic... but, wasn't said to encourage eating.