Make your own Play Doh

Play Doh is dead easy to make at home, and a fun activity for kids of all ages. Here’s how to make your own non-toxic variety with custom colors and fragrances.

This is the classic method that involves a little bit of cooking on the oven – most people prefer this type because cooked Play Doh has a better texture than the uncooked varieties.

The Recipe

Step 1

Mix all of the ingredients together, and stir over low heat. The dough will begin to thicken until it resembles mashed potatoes.

When the dough pulls away from the sides and clumps in the center,  remove the pan from heat and allow the dough to cool enough to handle.

IMPORTANT NOTE: if your play doh is still sticky, you simply need to cook it longer!

Keep stirring and cooking until the dough is dry and feels like play doh if it feels too sticky, be patient and just keep cooking a bit longer and it will work!

Step 2

Turn the dough out onto a clean counter or silicone mat, and knead vigorously until it becomes silky-smooth. Divide the dough into balls for coloring.

Make a divot in the center of the ball, and drop some food coloring in. Fold the dough over, working the food colour through the body of the play doh, trying to keep the raw dye away from your hands and the counter. You could use gloves, a big ziplock bag, or plastic wrap at this stage to keep your hands clean- only the concentrated dye will colour your skin, so as soon as it’s worked in bare hands are fine.

Work the dye through, adding more as necessary to achieve your chosen colour.

Step 3

Play with your play doh- I really don’t need to help you here, it’s entirely edible, if a bit salty, so it’s kid-safe.

When you’re done, store your play doh in an air-tight container.
– If it begins to dry out, you can knead a bit of water in again to soften the dough back to usability. Once it’s dried past a certain point, however, you’ll just have to start over; thankfully it’s not terribly difficult.
– If it gets soggy, you can re-heat it to drive off the extra water the dough absorbed overnight.  This is usually the result of high humidity, but is fixable!

You can also bake it in the oven to make hard dough figures and ornaments, then paint or decorate the surface.