Make Your Own Play Dough
Play dough is fun and is a terrific tool to help prepare young children for school. It stimulates creativity and imagination, strengthens muscles, develops eye-hand coordination, and more.
Purchase play dough or have fun making your own. Play Dough has only a few ingredients and is easy to make. Making play dough is a great project to do with your children or grandchildren. For safety reasons, a grown-up should always help when making play dough.
Two Play Dough Recipes
Try one or both of these two simple play dough recipes. The first, Kool-Aid Play Dough, is for play dough like you would find in the store. Use it over and over for hours and hours of fun. Use the second, Salted Dough, when you want to save your play dough creations. Make Christmas tree ornaments, gifts, and other special keepsakes.
Kool-Aid Play Dough Recipe
What You Need (Ingredients)
- 1 cup flour
- 2 tsp. cream of tartar
- ½ cup salt
- 1 envelope (0.13 oz to 0.23 oz) KOOL-AID unsweetened drink mix, any flavor
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp. oil
How to Make It:
- Mix the first 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan until blended. Stir in water and oil.
- Cook on medium heat 5 minutes or until the mixture forms a ball, stirring frequently.
- Transfer to plate; cool slightly.
- When cool, knead the dough for 5 minutes to make the dough soft
- >>Put in a bag to cool overnight to prevent the salt from crystalizing <<
Food Coloring Substitution
Use food coloring instead of KOOL-AID. Add the water, oil, and food coloring to the dry ingredients.
Double or triple your fun by making two or three batches of different colored play dough. Always store your play dough in an airtight container when you are done to keep it soft and ready to use next time.
Salted Dough for Ornaments and Other Keepsakes
When you want to save your play dough creations, use this simple recipe to make play dough you can bake, paint, and decorate.
What You Need (Ingredients)
- ½ cup salt
- ½ cup water
- 1 cup flour
How to Make It
- Bring the water and salt to a boil until the salt dissolves
- Use a mixer to mix the flour with the salt and water until it has a smooth consistency
- Once the dough has cooled down to the touch, knead and roll out to the desired thickness
- Shape the dough as you wish using cookie cutters, rolling, etc. – the possibilities are endless
- Bake shaped dough for 2 hours at 200 degrees
- Let the dough dry for approximately 2 days
- Paint and decorate as desired
Play dough is a classic toy that kids have loved for generations. Encourage your young children to play with play dough to help prepare them for school. Learn more about how preschoolers learn by playing with play dough, puzzles, and other toys helps young children prepare for school.