Best Ever No-Cook Play Dough Recipe! - The Imagination Tree (2024)
by Anna Ranson
How to make the best ever, no-cook play dough recipe in just 4 minutes, that will lasts for 6 months! Voted the number one play dough recipe by teachers, parents and child-carers for many years in a row! I hope you’ll love it too 🙂
I’ve been working with children for over 20 years and play dough is the fail safe way to engage and excite little hands and minds! It is a brilliant sensory and fine motor tool that is ridiculously easy to make and SO much better than any store bought versions.
By making it yourself you know exactly what has gone into it and can also customise it in so many ways, such as adding colour, sparkles and even natural flavours or essential oils. It has a proven therapeutic quality and has saved my parenting on more occasions than I can number! It is, quite simply, the best play material out there.
I hope you will love my easiest ever, no-cook play dough recipe!
The benefits of using play dough for young children are wonderfuland the play possibilities are endless!
few drops glycerine (my secret ingredient for stretch and shine!)
[Amazon affiliate links to help you find the ingredients I recommend. Many of these are bulk size as it works out cheaper when making for classes or every month like we often do!]
Mix the flour, salt, cream of tartar and oil in a large mixing bowl
Add food colouring TO the boiling water then into the dry ingredients
Stir continuously until it becomes a sticky, combined dough
Add the glycerine (optional)
Allow it to cool down thentake it out of the bowl and knead it vigorously for a couple of minutes until all of the stickiness has gone.* This is the most important part of the process, so keep at it until it’s the perfect consistency!*
If it remains a little sticky then add a touch more flour until just right
Voila!
We use theseWilton Gel coloursas they are much more vibrant and take only a tiny amount to colour the dough. We also use them in all our other sensory play activities to and they last for ever!
You can store this play dough in an air tight container for at least 6 months. If you live in a humid climate you might need to store it in the fridge and out of sunlight.
Here’s our new video showing how EASY it is to make this play dough!!
Once you’ve made your play dough hop on over to this post where I explain the totally amazing benefits of play dough play! And recommend many items to start collecting to create a play dough tool kit. Here are some brilliant play dough tools we have and love to use alongside this recipe. These are totally worth adding to your play dough toolbox and will last for a very long time!
I have listed the direct links to find the items in this image below:
Plus many more ideas in individual posts in my play dough archives!
How here are over 50+ ways to change this basic mix to create an amazing range of different play dough flavours and fun activities to go with them! Literacy, maths, imaginative play and role play to name just a few.
Click through to find your favourites and pin them for future use.
And here are 10 beautiful, natural play dough recipes for you to try too!
Enjoy!
Search the full Play Dough archives here
Looking for Salt Dough that can be played with then hardened into models to keep? Here is our Rainbow Glitter Salt Dough recipe
I hope you love this easy no-cook play dough recipe and will share it far and wide! Thanks for the hundreds upon hundreds of you that have already told me it’s the best recipe you’ve ever used and will use it in your classrooms and homes ever more! 🙂
[This post contains Amazon affiliate link to help you find products I love and recommend easily. Thank you!]
how to make the world's best homemade play-doh. You'll need 3 cups of white all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons cream of tartar, 1 cup + 2 tablespoons of table salt, 3-4 tablespoons of any cooking oil (start with 3 and add more if necessary), 3 cups HOT water, and food coloring.
how to make the world's best homemade play-doh. You'll need 3 cups of white all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons cream of tartar, 1 cup + 2 tablespoons of table salt, 3-4 tablespoons of any cooking oil (start with 3 and add more if necessary), 3 cups HOT water, and food coloring.
As part of simple, tactile play it can be squashed, squeezed, rolled, flattened, chopped, cut, scored, raked, punctured, poked and shredded! Each one of these different actions aids fine motor development in a different way, not to mention hand-eye co ordination and general concentration.
Put dry ingredients in a bowl. Add hot water gradually, stir mixture until it makes a pliable dough. Knead into a ball. Make a well in the ball of dough and add a few drops of food colouring, knead in the colouring while wearing disposable gloves.
Mix together your flour, water, cream of tartar, and vegetable oil in a large mixing bowl. Scoop the mixture into a sauce pan and cook on medium heat for 2-3 minutes while stirring constantly until your mixture turns into dough.
Develops Fine Motor Skills. Developing finger muscles and having proper finger control is an important first step to learning how to write at school. ...
Like any toy, however, play dough poses a few risks. It's recommended that you wait until your child is two years old before you introduce it. Play dough bought at the store comes with an age recommendation of two years and up. Homemade play dough is also soft and malleable, and it's pretty easy to make.
Making play dough is the perfect way to introduce your child to simple skills like measuring, counting and following a series of instructions. It can also improve communication and problem-solving skills. This recipe is our favourite for making playdough.
Cream of tartar really helps to get your playdough to the fun gel form and prevent it from staying too wet. Also as a bonus, this recipe stays fresh for a long time, so you can store it and break it out to play with it for days to come!
Store it in the refrigerator, in a sealed container and your playdough should last several weeks to a month or longer, depending on amount of use. If it is not sealed it will dry out, crumble easily and not be as pliable.
There wasn't a huge difference between the final result of cooked and uncooked recipes, but there is one key ingredient you really need to use: cream of tartar, which was a common ingredient in all the recipes that worked well because it keeps DIY playdough from becoming a crumbly mess.
With this recipe the key is to really make sure you knead the dough well to avoid ending up with an end product that is too sticky or wet. The glycerine is a secret ingredient that makes the playdough extra stretchy and fun!
1-cup flour ¾ to 1-cup water 1 bag of cotton balls (any color) Mix flour and water together until you get a smooth paste. Dip the cotton balls into the paste. Form into desired shapes. Place on cookie sheet and cook at 325 degree for 1 hour until lightly brown and hard.
Introduction: My name is Terrell Hackett, I am a gleaming, brainy, courageous, helpful, healthy, cooperative, graceful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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as they are much more vibrant and take only a tiny amount to colour the dough. We also use them in all our other sensory play activities to and they last for ever!
