The Easter weekend was a long weekend for the kids and I wanted to do something interesting for them. My son was not a fan of play dough when he was little, but my daughter seems to adore play dough. Not my favorite since there is a lot of cleanup after she is done
. Well, anything that involves kids are most likely to be messy right?
My buddy Shai had mentioned making play dough at home for some school project a few months ago and that suddenly crossed my mind. I searched the net and found that there is a standard recipe for the same and I had all the ingredients. The only odd ingredient that might be new for some of you is the cream of tartar. I bought it to make snickerdoodles a year ago and did not touch it after that. OK, the box is done now with me making batch after batch. I should say I was enjoying the process more than the kids . I would recommend cream of tartar, but please refer to notes on the substitute for cream of tartar.
Yellow was my favorite color of all, but it did not last for long. My daughter decided to build a tower with all the colors. All was good and I still hoped I could separate them out. But then she also decided to squish the tower . So, plop went all the colors into one and oh well, you all know. We made more the next day though
.
This recipe makes about 3 – 4 small boxes of play dough. You can halve it or quarter it based on need. I have mentioned two methods. The non-messy method involves making the dough each time with the color needed. The messier method allows you to make the dough once and then you can divide the dough and knead in the color. Remember, this is messy and I had to clean the countertops and of course my boy wanted to knead on his own and had food coloring on his hands too. No worries, it does go away. Once the coloring is kneaded in, it does not stick to your hands anymore.
My daughter loved it and gave me just a few minutes to click. She decided I was done and took off with the dough .
I have to say that kneading the dough while it was warm was completely relaxing and watching the dough get its color was fun. I am sure you can understand how excited I am about the whole process
. I looked at a few videos online and a few links too. Seems like a standard recipe to make play dough. Recipe from here.
Homemade Play Dough Recipe

Easy homemade play dough (doh) recipe.
Ingredients:
- all purpose flour - 1 cup
- cream of tartar - 2 tsp (refer to notes)
- salt - 1/3 cup
- water - 1 cup
- oil - 1 tbsp
- food coloring - as needed
Instructions:
Take all purpose flour, cream of tartar, salt, water and oil in a vessel. Stir well to remove lumps.
Method 1:
Add the food coloring to the mixture. Turn the stove on and keep stirring until the dough comes together. Remove from vessel and knead for a couple of minutes.
Method 2:
Turn the stove on and keep stirring without adding the food coloring. When the dough comes together, remove and place on a sheet. Add the food coloring and knead for a few minutes. Remember that this is a messier process, but if you want to make more colors with one batch, this is the way to go.
Store in airtight containers or ziploc bags.
1. Cream of tartar can be found in the baking aisle. I tried substituting vinegar for cream of tartar and found that the resulting dough was slightly tougher than the one made with cream of tartar. The kids did not notice any difference. If using vinegar, reduce the water by the amount of vinegar used.
To make 1/4 quantity as a trial, use roughly 4.5 tsp of salt. The other ingredients can be quartered easily.
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Pictorial
1. Take all purpose flour, cream of tartar and salt in a vessel.












Colorful play dough ready.

Me and my 2girls loved making the dough.Do you know how long it will stay good?
Thanks for the feedback Swathi. According to the original source, the one with cream of tartar stays good for even a year. I have had mine for about 2 weeks now and it is still good.
awesome..i thought its going to be big work so i hesitated to try it..useful post…
Lovely post,i would surely make it & share it with u.My son love to play with clay,i use to buy it from stores,i can make now,no worrying about the chemicals