Have you ever made playdough?
Would you believe me if I told you it was easy? Or that I was able to make 4 different colors of playdough with ONE pot in only 12 minutes?
Its true!! There are SO many different types of recipes out there but this one is my all time favorite. It never comes out wet and sticky and the dough is so smooth just like the store bought brands, and because it's made with food ingredients, it's completely edible.
First you need a large bowl to hold all your ingredients.
Add 1 cup of white flour.
Next, add in 1/2 cup of salt.
Then add two teaspoons of Cream of Tartar.
What the heck is cream of tartar? Well, it's white powder that you find in the spice isle and it's most commonly used for making meringues (like meringue pie).
The reason it is added into the playdough is because it is what will help make the dough smooth and have some elasticity. It also serves as a preservative so that it will last longer.
You don't HAVE to use it. But I think it does make help make a nicer playdough. Try it with and without and see if you can tell a difference.
Next add your wet ingredients: one tablespoon of oil and one cup of water.
Now, just stir it. Stir it up well so that all the ingredients are mixed well and it is the consistency of pancake batter.
At this point, if you just wanted to make one color, you could add food coloring and mix it in.
(You could also add in kool-aid powder to add not only color but also a delicious smell! That really adds to the sensory experience).
I wanted to make FOUR different colors, so I decided that I would wait to add my food coloring until the batter was cooking.
I used a small pot and set the heat to medium, I only added about 1/4 of my playdough batter to the pot because I was going to make four different colors.
You have to work fast because the playdough cooks quickly. (Like I said, this entire process only took me 12 minutes!). Add the food coloring of your choice and mix, mix, mix.
As the batter heats up, it will turn to playdough right before your eyes. Just keep squishing it back and forth until all the batter has cooked (with no wet parts left). This will take between 1-3 minutes depending on how much you are making at a time.
Scrape out as much of the dough as you can and leave it on your counter. You can just leave it as you finish cooking the rest of the batter. If you are only making one color, you can move right to kneading your dough - just be careful because it will be HOT!
I didn't bother to clean out my pot before starting the next color. I did however plan out my colors so that IF they did seem to run together, it wouldn't be a big deal. (the colors did not mix).
I chose to start with yellow and then moved to pink, purple and lastly green. (The green I actually used was called avocado; and it's supposed to be that dark).
Here is what all my dough looked like right out of the pot.
As you can see, when you start it might still have some white spots.
I took one piece at a time and I smashed it and folded it on top of itself until the color was even and the texture was smooth.
And here is the finished product! The only mess I had was the colorful turned pot I cooked everything in and the original bowl I mixed my ingredients in.
Store your fresh playdough in an air-tight container (I use zip lock bags) and keep in the fridge.
It should keep for a couple of weeks.
Jen's Favorite Cooked Playdough:
1 cup of flour
1/2 cup of salt
2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
1 cup of water
1 tablespoon of oil
food coloring
1. Add all ingredients together and mix well. (Leave out the food coloring if you want to make this batch into several colors).
2. Cook playdough in a pot on medium heat. Stir constantly. (add food coloring now if you haven't already added it).
3. As the dough gets hot, it will cook and start to turn into dough. Keep stirring and expose all the wet areas to the pot so it will cook.
4. Remove from heat and place on a flat surface.
5. Let the dough cool before kneading.
6. Store in an air-tight container.
