Here’s how to make your own play dough. It’s an easy rainy day activity with pre-school age children. Extend the activity by setting up your own ‘bakery’ or ‘ice cream’ shop and have fun pretending to sell your creations.
You will need:
- 1 cup plain flour
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup salt
- 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
- 1 tablespoon oil
- Teaspoon of food colouring
You can also add essences such as vanilla essence or peppermint essence to make some lovely scented play dough. Add glitter to make sparkly dough.
How to make play dough:
- Add the salt and water to a saucepan and heat gently, dissolving as much of the salt as possible.
- Remove from the heat and add the flour, cream of tartar and oil. If making just one colour of play dough, add the food colouring at this stage. If making multiple colours, make up the plain dough first then split into balls and mix a different colour into each ball.
- Mix the dough well until you get a good consistency.
Have fun rolling and moulding the play dough and cutting out shapes with cookie cutters.. Try using different kitchen utensils such as rolling pins, potato mashers or a garlic press. Chop up long sausages of dough with kids safety scissors or lollipop sticks. Find interesting things to press into the dough such as plastic animals, shells or letter shapes.
The play dough can be wrapped in clingfilm or an airtight container and stored in the fridge for several months.
Playdough cupcakes – ready for our play cafe
