Play Dough Date

We’ve been working hard to get some homemade sensory kits ready to give out as party favors for Georgie’s third birthday. In these 20 sensory kits I wanted to include three different colors of play dough ((among other things)). So I scoured the internet for different recipes that seemed easy enough to do and would help me save a little money. I came upon a few and tweaked them to my liking.

How to Make Play Dough (makes 6 portions)

You’ll need:

• 2 cups of flour
• 2 cups of warm water
• 2 1/2 tablespoons of vegetable oil or coconut oil
• 3/4 cups of salt
• 4 teaspoons of cream of tarter (find in spices section)
• Food coloring (about 25 drops total)
• Mixer
• Spatula
• Large pot
• Gallon size bag (for one color) or quart size bag (for multiple colors)
• Cling wrap
• Latex gloves or plastic bags (for multiple colors)

How to:

• Add flour, water, oil, cream of tarter, salt, and food coloring (for one color) into mixer
• Mix on low until consistency of cake batter
• Pour into pot and stir at medium heat
• Continue to stir with spatula as it becomes tacky and then eventually becomes one blob
• Place in zip bag and close
• Let cool
• If doing more than one color at a time use gloves or plastic bags to mix in food coloring in each bag
• Roll dough into 1 inch diameter logs and cut into 3 inch chunks
• Cover individual pieces in cling wrap or other container

We meant to add glitter to our play dough but forgot to buy some while at the store. Most of my research stated that you could add as much as you wish. I was going to go with a fine glitter because I liked the look of it best. A fun alternative that I want to try next time is hawaiian punch instead of food coloring. For this recipe you add the packet into 2 cups of warm water and then continue the rest of the recipe above. It looks pretty and smells great!!

This play dough date was really fun and not too messy! It’s a great activity to do with the kiddos for sure. They feel like they’re baking and end up making their own entertainment for future use. Win-win here!!