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Home-made Play Dough

One of my suggested half term activities was to make your own play dough, so I thought I'd share our tried and tested recipe! I have tried other versions that don't include cream of tartar (as it's the one thing on the list that you might not have in). But I didn't find that they came together as well as this dough.

A child uses a cookie cutter to make yellow playdough biscuits.


You need:

  • 1/2 cup table salt
  • 1 cup plain flour
  • 1 tablespoon oil (I used almond oil, but you can use any type, from vegetable oil to baby oil)
  • 1 tablespoon cream of tartar
  • Optional: food colouring and/or scent. I added lavender essential oils.

  1. Mix the dry ingredients together, then add 1 cup of boiling water (you can add the food colouring to the water instead of at the dry stage).
  2. Stir with a spoon, it will look lumpy at first.
  3. Once it is cool enough to touch, turn it onto a mat and start kneading. If you are doing this on a cool day, it is lovely to knead as soon as it is cool enough to touch but is still warm, especially if you've added a scent. The warm lavender dough was delightful!
  4. Once the dough has come together, you're done!
  5. Store in an airtight container - I keep it in the fridge to make it last even longer.


A lump of pale red home made playdough on a red mat, with moulds. A row of cuddly toys in the top right of the picture

Array of watching cuddly toys is optional.



















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