The BEST Simple Playdough Recipe

The most simple playdough recipe that makes super soft, long lasting playdough. Whether you are a preschool teacher or a mom looking for rainy day activities for young children, this is the best homemade playdough recipe for fine motor skills. Bonus points for not having to worry about the ingredients in it when your baby eats it.

Scroll down to the end of this post to get a printable recipe card.

Why is this simple playdough recipe better than store bought?

The best simple playdough recipe is so soft, lasts a LONG time, and uses ingredients that are safe if ingested. That seems reason enough to make your own playdough. However, for another reason, this is a great manipulative to introduce into a young toddler’s daily routine.

Plus, it’s super quick and easy to make (you can make a batch in about 5 minutes) and much cheaper than buying ready made playdough. You can get a huge batch with just one recipe.

In addition to all that, this is a great activity to start your preschooler on cooking. I have messed with the ingredients so many times and it always still turns out good enough to play with.

Homemade playdough is a lot more tough than it’s store bought counter part. If you leave the lid off those little containers of Play-doh, it dries out and you have to toss it. Homemade playdough can be left out and still work. Just throw it in a giant ziploc bag or any airtight container for easy access. Not the end of the world if it doesnt get zipped shut. Just play with the playdough and it ends up soft again. Sometimes you might need to add a bit of vegetable oil or a few drops of water, but it will get soft again.

This recipe came into my life years when I was running an in-home daycare with 12 toddlers. Listen to the children, an educational consultant who advocates for children learning through play, introduced me to this recipe. Thankfully, because I had tried different recipes before but nothing compares to this cook playdough recipe. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a good no cook play dough recipe.

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How to Make Homemade Playdough

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup salt
• 6 tsp. cream of tartar
• 6 tbsp. oil – I use canola because its really cheap

Directions:

• Add some color to your water before putting in the pot.

• Add in other ingredients.

• Cook on stove over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

• Once it starts clumping, stir constantly.

• When it is a mix of wet looking and a bit darker, dump out onto wax paper and knead. Watch out, it will be hot!

• This is a great opportunity for little hands to get in there and play around with learning about things being too hot to touch!
• It will be a sticky mess at first. However as it gets played with, the stickiness goes away.

Adding essential oils is a great “extra” for homemade playdough too!

Here is a printable recipe card for you:

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

Simple Playdough Recipe Tips

• Colorations Liquid Watercolor from Discount School Supply is a wonderful paint that doesn’t stain. You can make so many different colors of this best playdough recipe! This paint makes some vibrant colors in your easy homemade playdough recipe.
• Add glitter into the playdough to make it extra special.
• I highly recommend buying a bulk cream or tartar because it can get kind of spendy if you buy the small mccormick ones available at the store.
• Put this in some mason jars and you have yourself a great gift to give to a child! Also, it kind of sounds like that fart putty when you do that.
• Add some drops of essential oil to the simple playdough recipe for a little extra oomph. I like to add a calming scent.
• Pair these with some cookie cutters for hours of play.
• The good news is you can’t actually mess up this diy playdough recipe because even if you do, it will still be a fun activity for sensory play activities.

FAQ’S

Homemade playdough without cream of tartar

What if I don’t have cream of tartar?

Honestly, I have made this without cream of tartar and it’s still “playable.” Either way, you will have lots of fun activities to do with your homemade play dough recipe.

The point of the cream of tartar is to make the playdough more stretchy and minimize the crumbles. It also acts a a preservative, so if you don’t use it, your playdough won’t last as long.

Making playdough soft again

What if my playdough dries out?

Go ahead and play with it. If that doesn’t revive it, just add a bit of oil.

Can you use self rising flour for playdough?

Sure can! Using bleached all purpose flour is just the cheapest route.

How do you store this easy playdough recipe?

Any air-tight container or a plastic storage bag works.

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