The Playdough Experiment Part 2

Back in February, I experimented with making some homemade playdough for Little Man. The experiment was a success in that Little Man had great fun with the playdough, but I wasn’t too happy with the dough itself. It was a bit crumbly, and didn’t have the elasticity of store-bought playdough.

So when I found an alternative recipe in The Parent’s Guide to Play, I decided to try it out.

Playdough recipe in "The Parent's Guide to Play"

Homemade Playdough
From The Parents Guide to Play
1 cup flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water
1 tblsp vegetable oil
1 tblsp Cream of Tartar
4-5 drops of food colouring

Add the basic ingredients for playdough to a saucepan - a cup each of salt, flour, and water.

Add the water, salt, and flour to a saucepan and stir in a tablespoon of oil and a tablespoon of Cream of Tartar.

Simmer and stir the mixture over a low to moderate heat until it thickens and begins to separate from the sides of the saucepan.

Once it cools, it's ready to divide into portions (one for each colour) and knead into dough.

Add a couple of drops of food colouring and knead the dough

By the third colour, I realised it works better if you make an indentation in the top of the dough first before adding the drops of food colouring!

The finished product!

And the verdict? We are very impressed! This playdough feels like the real thing. It has great elasticity, and it seems to hold the colour very well. We’ve stored it in resealable sandwich bags, so hopefully it will last quite a while before drying out.