An Ultimate DIY Guide to Making Playdough in Your Kitchen (2025)

Store-bought playdough can get expensive, especially if you have more than one child. It also dries out easily if you don’t get those small, tight-fitting lids on exactly right, and can sometimes contain ingredients that you are less-than-excited about. For these reasons, a number of parents are turning toward homemade playdough recipes.

Not only can making playdough at home be a fun activity for you and your kids, but it also is less expensive and tends to last longer. Plus, you can get super-creative with it, making your own unique colors, creating a sparkly version, and even giving it a pleasing scent for aromatherapy play.

To help you get started on your own homemade playdough adventure, I tested it in my kitchen with ingredients I had on hand. Here is your must-have guide on how to make playdough at home.

Homemade Playdough Ingredients

Fortunately, making playdough at home doesn’t require any unique ingredients. Instead, you’re likely to have everything you need right inside your kitchen cabinets.

The most unique ingredient on the list is gel food coloring, which is readily available in most supermarkets, craft stores, and even online. However, in a pinch, you may be able to color your playdough with a jello packet or a drink mix. Here are the ingredients for making our homemade dough recipe.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup salt
• 4 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 2 cups lukewarm water
• 2 tablespoons of canola oil (vegetable oil works too)
• gel food coloring
• quart sized bags

This playdough recipe makes roughly two cups of playdough, and can be divided into four, 1/2 cup portions—the same size as the store-bought containers.

Steps for Making Playdough at Home

Making your own playdough is a fun activity that your kids will love to help with. Whether it’s assisting with stirring the mixture on the stove—with your supervision of course—or mixing the colors into the dough, there are plenty of ways they can help out. Even measuring out the ingredients are steps kids can help with, and can be a good math lesson, too.

Follow these steps to make your own playdough at home:

1. Gather your supplies, including a non-stick pot, large spoon, wax paper, and quart sized bags.
2. Stir together the flour, cream of tartar, and salt in the large pot.
3. Add the water and the canola or vegetable oil.
4. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until your playdough base is thick and starts to form a ball.
5. Remove the pot from the heat and place the dough on wax paper to cool.
6. Knead the dough until it is smooth (once it is cool enough to touch).
7. Divide the dough into four, 1/2 cup portions—or smaller if you want to make more colors.
8. Add five to six drops of color to each portion of dough and place it in a bag.
9. Knead the dough while it’s in the bag until the color is mixed in. This will keep the color from staining your hands and is a fun, sensory activity for your kids.

Once the dough is completely cool, store it in clean quart-size bags or in storage containers with lids that fit snugly. Typically, this dough will last for about three months. You also can make this playdough gluten-free by replacing the flour with a cup-for-cup version of gluten-free flour.

Fun Variations on Homemade Playdough

This playdough is super soft and squishy without being overly sticky. Plus, it will last for months if stored appropriately. But you don’t have to make it as listed every time you whip up a batch. Feel free to make unique colors, add scents, or even use other add-ins to customize your playdough. Here are some ways you can vary this recipe and have some fun with it.

• Add two drops of your favorite essential oil, like lavender, to create a scented playdough. This type of playdough is ideal for aromatherapy play and can be calming for some kids. Just make sure to select an oil that is safe for skin, and do not use oils if your child is under 2 years old.
• Make a sparkly or themed playdough by adding glitter or fun confetti shapes to the dough after you've added the color. You also can incorporate small confetti shapes for particular holidays, too, like shamrocks for St. Patrick’s Day or pumpkins for Halloween.
• Gather up broken crayons and melt them down to color your playdough, especially if you don’t have any gel food coloring on hand.
• Have your child practice mixing and matching colors to create new colors. For instance, mix yellow and blue to make green, red and blue to make purple, and yellow and red to make orange. Get creative and then have some fun naming the colors, too.

5 Tips for Homemade Playdough Success

While making playdough at home is a relatively simple process, there are some things that you can do to make the process a little easier. Here are some tips to make your playdough making session even more successful.

Use a non-stick pan.

While you can make playdough in any pan you have available, a non-stick plan will make the process so much easier. With a regular pan, your dough can stick to the sides, making it more challenging to stir and the clean up more challenging.

Mix the colors in a plastic bag.

This will keep the mess to a minimum, especially if you have little helpers. It also can keep the food coloring from staining your hands. And, if you’re making one big batch of one color, it also can save your cookware from getting stained.

Wait until your dough has cooled.

Not only should you wait until the dough is cool enough to handle to avoid burns, but you also want to wait until it is completely cool before storing it. Putting it in a sealed bag or container while it’s still warm can cause your playdough to develop a musty smell or even grow mold.

Refrain from throwing out dried out playdough.

If your homemade dough dries out, there is a chance you can revive it. Pour about a teaspoon of canola oil (or vegetable oil) into your hands. Then, take the dried dough and work in the oil. Add more oil as needed, a little at a time, until the playdough is soft again.

Follow the ingredients list as is.

If your playdough is sticky, it’s possible that you did not add enough flour or salt. It’s also possible that your dough needs to cook a little longer.