Recipes to Make Playdough at Home

Did you know that it's easy to make playdough with the kids at home? You'll have a great time! Keep reading to find out more!

All children love playing with playdough at home or at school. Thanks to this type of material, they can let their imagination fly. In addition to this, they can work on their fine and gross motor skills thanks to the coordination they need to move their hands and fingers in order to shape and mold this fun material. But there’s an even more fun activity – you can actually make playdough at home!

Yes, it’s really easy to do. Kids can make playdough with their own hands and then play with their own creation. It’s so satisfying for the child – and for their mom and dad too – as it’s a great family activity. Just note that they’ll need plenty of supervision while you, as parents, show them how to do it.

Recipes to make playdough at home

You can use the following recipes to make playdough at home, which you can then roll or shape into sculptures. Some playdough has to be dried overnight, while others are best made in an oven. A somewhat more advanced activity is to decorate their creations afterwards, and paint them with acrylics or varnish.

A simple recipe

Before you start to make playdough, have a look at the different recipes and take note of what you need to do. You can then decide which is the best one for you.

Materials

• 2 cups of salt
• 2 or 3 cups of water
• Saucepan
• 1 cup of cornstarch/cornflour
• 1/2 cup of cold water

Preparation

The step-by-step approach to make this playdough is as follows:

• Mix the salt and water in a saucepan and heat for 4-5 minutes.
• Remove the mixture from the heat and add cornstarch and cold water.
• Then, mix it until it’s soft and heat it up again until it thickens.
• Allow the dough to cool, and then shape it as desired.
• When it’s dry, decorate it with paint, markers, glitter, etc.
• If you prefer, you can spray it with clear acrylic spray or paint it with clear nail polish.
• Store the remaining playdough for future use.

Bread playdough

To make bread playdough, follow these instructions.

Materials

• 6 slices of white bread with no crust
• 6 tablespoons of white glue
• 1/2 teaspoon of detergent or 2 teaspoons of glycerin
• Food coloring
• A paint brush
• Equal parts of white glue and water
• Acrylic or spray paint or clear nail polish

Preparation

This is the step-by-step approach you need to take:

• First, knead the bread with the glue and the detergent or glycerin until the mixture loses its stickiness.
• Then, separate it into portions and dye it with food coloring.
• Let your child play with and mold the playdough.
• Then, brush the sculpture with equal parts of glue and water for a smooth appearance.
• Let it dry overnight.
• Finally, use acrylic or spray paint, or clear nail polish to seal and preserve.

Baker’s playdough

To make this type of playdough for children, follow these instructions.

Materials

• 4 cups of flour
• 1 cup of salt
• 1 and 1/2 cups of water
• Food coloring (optional)
• A large bowl
• 1 teaspoon of alum
• Cookie cutters, straw and fine wire (optional)
• A baking tray
• Fine sandpaper
• Plastic-based poster paint, acrylic paint or markers
• Clear lacquer, acrylic spray or nail polish.

Method

• First, mix the flour, salt, alum, and water in a bowl. If the dough is too dry, knead it with another spoonful of water.
• Then, you can color the dough by dividing it into several parts and kneading a few drops of dye into each part.
• After that, you can make decorations and figures. Roll out the dough on a slightly floured surface.
• Cut out the figures with flour-coated cookie cutters.
• Make a hole for hanging by dipping the end of a straw into flour and making the hole. You can also use the straw to cut more playdough dots to use as decoration.
• Now you’re ready to mold the dough into figures such as flowers, fruits, animals, etc.
• To finish it off, insert fine wire into the decorations to hang them.
• Bake the decorations on an ungreased baking sheet for approximately 30 minutes at 250°F.
• Turn them over and bake another 90 minutes until hard and dry.
• Remove from the oven and let them cool.
• Use fine sandpaper to give them a smooth finish.
• Decorate both sides of the decorations with plastic-based poster paint, acrylic paint, or markers.
• Finally, let the paint dry and seal them with clear shellac, acrylic spray, or nail polish.

We hope that you’ll have great fun carrying out these recipes for making playdough at home with your children – it’ll be amazing!