How to make playdough (easy no-cook recipe)
Our kids play with their playdough almost every day making little pretend dinners, worm families or faces on the table. They have a tub full of playdough tools which their 93 year old great grandmother bought for them.
1 Minute Playdough recipe:
Your will need:
- 1/2 cup of salt
- 1 cup of flour
- 1 tablespoon of cream of tartar (Cream of Tartar is a natural powdered raising agent for use in scones, drop scones, soda bread and a wide range of other recipes)
- 1 tablespoon of oil
- I cup of boiling water (from the kettle) mixed with
some food colouring (OR a the contents of three blackcurrant dazzler fruit tea bags for lovely fruity rich purple)
What to do:
Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and then mix vigourously with the hot water.
Makes wonderful playdough which lasts for ages in little plastic sandwich bags.
October 30th, 2006 at 9:41 pm
Just wanted you to know that you have a lovely blog, and I will be checking back often. Your “meal ideas from magazines” idea was great, especially because picture so often trigger that “ooh, I should make that!” response in me, the way a plain text recipe from a cookbook never does.
And an aside: I live in Massachusetts, USA, in Chelmsford near Tewksbury and Worcester, and it’s sort of funny to see the town names refered to in the UK, even though I know we co-opted the names!
September 13th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
Do you leave the play-dough to cool once you’ve made it? Because my mum was asking.
October 6th, 2007 at 10:11 am
Fantastic recipe, as a childrens nanny for over 10 years I have tried lots, this is by far the easiest with the best results given!!!! Genius!
x
October 24th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
This recipe was so easy and simple. Ive had my playdoh for months now and its fine! WOW! Ive made it in all different colours! Cuz im sad like that lol!
November 21st, 2007 at 11:24 am
My heart sunk when I found some of the recipes used to make play dough I don’t have much time and I really wanted to make home made play dough for my son as the shop version dries out so quickly and is quite tough. This recipe is a god send it’s so quick and easy and the children don’t have to wait long. Brilliant!!! Thanks for sharing it with us!!!!
January 17th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
I was looking for some tips to make play doh at home, the non-cook recipe – and i found so much more interesting stuff, thanks, ill be back.
PS Im a mum of 5 year old twin boys.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:31 pm
brilliant help. no cooking!!! a big bonus when you have four children, many many thanks.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:59 am
This is great, kids love it and you know what its made from…….. even better its so cheap nto make with ingreadients left over for another batch.
May i just add i use baby oil rather than cooking oil, it smells great. and if it start to dry just mx in a little more at a later date.
February 11th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
can u use baby oil than cooking oil
February 19th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Ive been making playdoh for years now and to be honest used to put it off as the mess and cleaning of pan afterwards. However im so glad i misplaced the recipe and couldnt remember it or i wood never of come accross yours. NEVER AGAIN will i use the cooking method as this one works better quicker and without the mess Many Thanks
February 19th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
I have a two year old little girl, and was told that she is very creative by a development spacialist. Wanting to make full use of this, i’m trying to get her doing more arts and crafts, but as she so young, it’s a lot of money to spend on items that will undoubtly not last long. This has been great. She loves it and with the little expense it costs, it doesnt matter if it get dirty and we have to start again.
Thank you so much.
February 27th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Wow this recipe is fast and brilliant, have made the cooked dough for years but this is so much faster and a better texture.
March 2nd, 2008 at 7:19 pm
wow the play doh is terrific our son is playing with it now. such a simple recipe i will readily pass it on .
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:40 pm
thanks for the recipe works great– wonderful when working with 5 children,quick and easy
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:04 pm
this recipe is FANTASTIC!! so quick and easy. I have a batch cooling in the kitchen ready for my daughter’s 2nd birthday party – one green and sparkly, one red and sparkly!!
April 25th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
this is soooo easy !! i used water based finger paints (non-toxic) mixed with the water to colour it, works a treat, now going to buy a big bag of salt so i can make more !!!
May 21st, 2008 at 11:48 pm
I work as a Nursery Nurse…so I often have to make play dough.This recipe is the best ever….quick, easy and not messy to make. Thanx so much.
June 10th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I run in a Pre school and we make play dough every week, everyone hates having to do it because it takes ages and is very messy. It was my turn this week and I only remembered on Monday morning, I found this recipe and gave it a go
IT IS FANTASTIC it really did only take 1 min and no mess, I did double the amounts which worked out perfect, now all the other people in my pre school want the recipe, I think this will be used for years to come!!
June 15th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I know i sound silly but was is cream of tartar is it tartar sauce.Please help
June 17th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
You need Cream of Tartar… a white powder. This is totally different from tartar sauce. The latter would be a disaster!
June 18th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
A friend of mine used tartar sauce by accident and wondered why it was a bit sloppy! Great recipe, will try this out tomorrow!
June 24th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Fantastic recipe, many thanks.
I’m a childminder and have been making playdough for many years. The best thing about this recipe is that it doesn’t stink your kitchen out like the recipe that you cook does!
Just make a batch of red and white so I can make Canadian flags out of it with my Rainbow Brownies tonight!
June 25th, 2008 at 6:58 am
Very good help thanks to whoever made this website i have 6 children and they are always asking me to playdough Now because i come on this website all the time i no this recipe like its stuck on the back of my head
June 26th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
dont beleive them there just fooling u the play dough could give u cancer if u alwayes touch it Im from pakistan i am the the presedents cosen of pakistan i am in year 10 and i saw a medical probleb to make the play dough out of cream of tartar mixed up with food colering
July 13th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
hi;
im 10 years old;
i made some pancakes today and have been looking for something to do with more flour;
this was the best yet
August 1st, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Wow what a fantastic recipe, kept the kids entertained for hours and only took 1 min to make it’s great. Thank you
August 7th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
great! my kids are having fun with it already and i only found this recipe 10mins ago!
i didn’t have any cream of tartar so i used bicarbonate of soda, which is similar, and it has turned out great!
i love the idea of adding glitter to it too
also i added some almond flavouring to it aswell so it smells good!
Thanks for the recipe
August 28th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
thanks for the amazing recipe, my son (3yrs old) lovvves playing with play doh, though i didnt find the cooking recipe hard, this is easier than that , so takes no time at all.made 4 colours in 10 mins (in which i ran out to get a bag of salt and yello food color as wel
) Awesome!
gonna add glitter the next time.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
[...] found this great recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Becoming Domestic. The recipe is so easy! The hardest part was [...]
September 6th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
This is a great recipe, for anyone who doesn’t have measuring cups I worked out that 1 cup is roughly 192g (maybe a little bit more).
September 6th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
this is brilliany! if only my mum knew about this when i was a child it would have saved her a lot of stirring! the tea bag idea is amazing! credit crunchy god send who needs horrible food colourings and it gives a lovely smell!
thank u so much
September 6th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Hello. I’m a nursery nurse, but have been a SAHM since having my little girl who is now 19 months old. I wanted to make some playdough for her but couldn’t remember exactly what I needed. This recipe is fantastic!! It was so fast to make, about a minute or 2 which was really handy with an impatient 19 month old clinging to your legs! So much easier to make than the one we used to cook in the nursery!! She loved playing with this so much that she never moved for 2 and a half hours!! Which is a looonngg time for someone that age!!!
September 8th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Hi, is it ok to use baking powder instead? I’m disabled and can’t get to ths hops easily. I was looking for this to make for my 2.5 yr old to play with this morning. I have all the ingredients bar the cream of tartar, but have baking powder instead.
September 8th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
HELLO ive got a 2 year old baby girl and i used to buy that expensive play doh but she kept dropping on the ground then it would dry up so i stopped buying it but she always asked for it at the shop so i tried to make make some but i couldnt.
this was a huge help!!!
September 11th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Hi
Fabulous recipe, soooo easy! I added lavander oil (just a drop) to it so it smells nice (hoping it might encourage my son to chill out….hasn’t so far!) and planning to make more with other essential oils in other colours. Thanks for this idea.
September 17th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
WOW… i’m a teacher in a hot country and i’ve never been able to make play dough last, due to our school not having a fridge. this recipe is super. my dough is 2 months old and still going fresh and strong!
thanks!
September 28th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
First try and a great success!!!!!!!! Just add more flour if little sticky (mine was!)Worked fine with Bi-carb of Soda and so simple …
October 17th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
thankyou soooooooooooo much i have to make playdough for 30 people and i only get £2 a week pocket money so really needed a cheap way of making a load so thank you xxxxxxxxxxxxx
October 29th, 2008 at 9:41 am
thx a million this easy cook recipe is great! it is an easy and simple way to entertain overs. the whole family loved it. lol!xxxxxxxx
November 9th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Looks great, planning on buying dough 4 young relatives, but will test on my 20 month baby tomorrow & plan to source plastic containers to put dough in 4 xmas pressies & secret santa @ toddlers. If it works you’ve saved me a bomb!!! thankyou
November 16th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
There are many recipes for playdough and I am really glad that people are having fun – but please be aware that it a really good medium and germs and parasites such as childhood worms to thrive. That’s why at my school we make it every week, sometimes twice when such a lot of children use it. The person who had it for 2 months in a hot country – ugghhh!
November 17th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
wow thats was quick and easy to do….used some herbal tea bags to get colours as had none in and used the bicarb…great idea will pass this on to my friends…
November 19th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Wonderful!!!
Thanks this was really quick, non messy and I know my little girl will have hours of fun with it. Used food colouring for nw but really want to try the herbal T bags.
November 19th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I remember a similar recipe when growing up. A little variation to consider:
boil your water in a small pan and throw in a few blackberries and blueberries (we always have some in the freezer) – the water will turn the playdough a flesh colour, and it makes perfect mice ears too!
Use half the quantity of cream of tartar for a less springy dough
Grapeseed oil has very little smell
I never use scented oils or essences as I don’t want to make it tooooo attractive to my 2 1/2 year old’s taste buds!
In response to an earlier comment about keeping it for two months, I am sure they had the sense to keep it in the frige
. But it’s so easy to make, and so cheap, that you don’t have to keep it for long anyway.
November 19th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
[...] It has recipes for heart shaped peppermint creams (which are even easier to make than my ever popular playdough recipe). I’m not sure who will get the most joy – the kids while making them or their grandma when [...]
November 20th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Will this playdough last for a week? I have a weekend of childrens meetings i was going to use playdough at. Can i make it the monday before i leave or should i wait until nearer the weekend?
December 5th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Hey! I just found you. I am also a country girl who is not so country and loves life with little ones. Nice to find similar interests.
December 9th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
after making things with this playdough – like xmas decorations, can you bake it to make it go hard? if so, what’s the best temp and for how long?
December 12th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
This receipe is fab. It took me about 1 minute to make it and its sooooo easy and clean!!!! I used baking powder instead of cream of tartar and i also used childrens paint to colour the boiling water and it worked a treat……thankyou!!!
January 27th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
thank you i will make this recipy
February 5th, 2009 at 12:01 am
This is great, thank you – you need more flour than you think you do, an earlier poster is right – if it’s all sticky and gooey, just add more flour. I used baking powder as well, worked fine. Keep it in a sealed bag when not in use.
February 13th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Kids off on half-term and asked for dough yesterday. Made it with added glitter for girly-girl age 5. Awakened this morning by industrious thumping and chatter from kitchen, 5 year old and 8 year old were in mass production with dough saying it was the best toy in ages! It’s so easy to make and clean up and the kids LOVE it, many thanks for the recipe.
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:28 pm
just wondering how long this playdough lasts, as other recepies say they only last a couple of weeks, is this the same?
March 10th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
[...] for play doh that you didn’t need to cook and it appealed immediately. The recipe was found here. I made a blue version for Ollie and he and Daddy enjoyed playing with it, although I am not sure [...]
March 10th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Hi have 3 children and have just made play dough after school.
Great receipe!!!!! Took no time, but you do need more flour than stated.
March 16th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Hi, just tried your playdough recipe and it’s great, I didn’t have any cream of tartar so used bicarbonate of soda and it worked just as well.
March 18th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Absolutely brilliant, effortless and keeps the lil ones amused for hours and hours and hours!!!
March 21st, 2009 at 2:50 pm
this recipe was great, I have 5 kids and its so much hassle to buy play dough and far too expensive, thanks to the creator of this recipe
Thanks xx
March 26th, 2009 at 10:51 am
thank you so much,i have a three year old daughter that has just started school, so i often get her friends over to play.this recipe is ideal its quick, clean, fun for the kids an doesnt break the bank thanks xx
March 26th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Just made this with my little girl this morning. Fantastic recipe and quick to do, i would definetly recommend!
March 31st, 2009 at 1:11 pm
WOW! this took me literally 3 mins to make! My kids are going to love their mummy so much when they get home from school!
April 11th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
I AM A 12 YR OLD GIRL BUT I STILL LOVE TO USE THIS PLAY DOUGH IT IS SO EASY TO MAKE YET SO FUN XX AND THEIR IS NO MESS
April 27th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Can bicarbonate of soda be used instead of cream of tartar??
April 27th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
my daughter has wheat allergy, is it possible to make with something else???
April 28th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
I found this recipe a splendid help! i shall shout it from the roof tops. i’ve made a rainbow of colours.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:10 pm
[...] some music and spend hours upon hours creating all kinds of creatures and shapes. And according to Becoming Domestic it’s really easy to make at home! Our kids play with their playdough almost every day making [...]
September 9th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
[...] source [...]