playdough recipe

The Best Homemade DIY Playdough

Our favourite homemade DIY playdough recipe & 36 ways to use it!

playdough recipe

I truly believe this to be the best homemade DIY playdough recipe. Everyone loves their homemade playdough recipe, I know that. I realize that when I say this is the ‘best’ diy playdough recipe you won’t believe me. There are loads of ‘best’ playdough recipes online, BUT THIS ONE IS ACTUALLY THE BEST HOMEMADE PLAYDOUGH.  Myself, my toddler and everyone I’ve ever given this recipe to think so anyway….

I’ve tried a gazillion other homemade playdough recipes. Lots of them are great, but I love this one more. This playdough is soft, such a nice texture, not sticky and lasts ages. And while you do have to cook it, it only takes a few minutes and it’s worth the effort.  Plus zero/minimal kneading is required – I personally can’t stand kneading no cook recipes.

Download the best homemade playdough recipe

Add your email below to download your free copy of the best homemade playdough recipe. I’ve created a PDF for you with the short list of ingredients (just five!), how to, some tips and I’ve included three ways to colour the dough too!  

And scroll down a bit to read about the many benefits of playdough & our favourite ways to use it!

Join for playful learning ideas & receive our FREE playdough recipe right away!

    Join the Crafty Mothering newsletter & download your Free Playdough Recipe

    The best dough & three ways to colour it!

      Powered By ConvertKit
      balls of colourful homemade playdough

      Benefits of Playdough:

      Playdough is one activity that I enjoy almost as much as my little guys.  I’m sure you don’t need to be convinced that playdough is fun AND beneficial for your kids! And if you’re not playing on carpet, it’s relatively mess free. 

      Here’s a quick list of some positive benefits you can feel good about: 

      • It’s calming and can be mindful.
      • Engages kids’ concentration. 
      • Sensory experience. 
      • Encourages creativity. 
      • Fine motor skills development, hand-eye coordination practice, strengthens hand muscles.
      • Learn new vocabulary (squish, roll, flatten, pinch, squeeze…).
      cute playdough characters with googley eyes

      Playdough Ideas:

      1. Add dry pasta
      2. Add flowers / petals
      3. Mix dough to make new colours 
      4. Use lace to make prints
      5. Add beads
      6. Make roads for vehicles to drive on / tire tracks
      7. Make figurines (animals, people, vehicles, flowers, anything!)
      8. Self portraits / faces with dough or add Mr. Potato Head body parts
      9. Playdough Cupcakes (add cupcake liners, candles and rainbow rice sprinkles)
      10. Bakery – make playdough pies, cookies, croissants, donuts
      11. Pasta – roll into spaghetti shapes, make meatballs 
      12. Poke feathers 
      13. Mold into ice cube trays or small containers
      14. Add pipe cleaners and make sculptures
      15. Make half a pattern / picture and challenge your kid to finish the other half (idea from @cara_florance on Instagram!)
      16. Paint by colour – smudge the dough onto thick paper or cardboard to ‘paint’ with it 
      17. Make snakes
      18. Use blocks, loose parts, lids (anything!) for stamping
      19. Stamp different items in the dough and ask your kid to match up the marks to the correct item
      20. Pizza Parlour – make playdough pizzas 
      21. Practice letter + number recognition and formation – make letters & numbers out of playdough
      22. Smash balls of playdough with a hammer
      23. Fill plastic eggs
      24. Add googley eyes to make characters (like in the photo above! Idea from @treasuretrays on Instagram)
      25. Make impressions with string / yarn 
      26. Make a playdough ‘mine’ for trucks to take ‘diamond gems’ and rocks out of (my son’s favourite)
      27. Add kitchen tools like a potato masher, rolling pin, ice cream scoop, melon baller
      28. Ice Cream Parlour – scoop balls of ‘ice cream’, add rainbow rice sprinkles & red pompom cherries
      29. Wrap or bury little toys or handwritten notes in playdough 
      30. Use cookie cutters
      31. Snip dough with scissors
      32. Practice cutting with a kid-friendly knife and fork
      33. Make roads for construction vehicles to ‘dig up’. 
      34. Add googley eyes and loose parts to make monsters
      35. Add LEGO / Duplo
      36. Add natural loose parts; rocks, sticks, shells, pinecones 
       
      What are your favourite ways to use playdough?  Let me know below!  

      Engage your kids in playful learning!

        We respect your privacy + will guard your email like it's the last chocolate chip cookie. Unsubscribe at anytime.

        Powered By ConvertKit