Best Homemade Playdough Recipes that are Safe and Non-Toxic

Kids of all ages love playing with playdough. It can get expensive, so sometimes it is best to make your own. When you make your own you also know what is inside of it and if it is safe. There are tons of fun homemade playdough recipes and great ideas to make with your kids.

Homemade Playdough

If you have a little one at home, you probably have purchased a lot of playdough. You may be wondering how to make homemade playdough, gluten free playdough, clough dough, foam dough, or even playdough scented with essential oils. If so, you’ll enjoy this huge list of non-toxic homemade playdough recipes.

Benefits of Playdough

Playdough can keep little hands busy for a long time. It is a great sensory play choice because it helps to develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. It encourages independent play and creativity.

How do you make playdough with only 3 ingredients?

You may surprised to know how easy it is to make homemade playdough. An easy playdough recipe can be made with basic ingredients you already have in your kitchen. 

Mix these 3 ingredients together in a bowl:

• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 3/4 cup of water
• 1 cup baking soda

Directions:

• Add a few drops of food color to the water first if you want to color it.
• Add the dry ingredients to a pot and mix well, then add the water.
• Turn the burner to medium heat and stir until it turns into a blob, then take it out.
• Lay it flat on wax paper to cool.
• Once it is cooled off, knead out the lumps and it is ready to play with.
• You can cut out shapes with cookie cutters or roll it into balls and use it like sensory play.

Can you make playdough with just flour and water?

In a pinch you can make playdough with all purpose flour and water, but you do need a third ingredient: salt. 

Mix 2 cups of all purpose flour with 1 cup of salt and 1 cup of water to make a nice and simple salt dough.

How do I make playdough safe for kids?

You can make playdough safe for kids by choosing recipes that use non-toxic ingredients that are safe if your child consumes them. There are many different recipes that you can use to create safe playdough for your kids.

Playdough Tips and Tricks

How to store homemade playdough

Playdough is easy to store. Make sure to store the different colors of playdough in separate containers.

You can line an air-tight container with different colors between pieces of wax paper and secure with a lid. You can even use small round containers with plastic lids from the dollar store for each individual playdough ball.

You can also use a Ziplock bag and squeeze the air out of it really good.

If you store it in the fridge, it will prevent it from getting moldy or dried out. It can store in the fridge for a couple of months.

How to soften dried out playdough

Did you know that you don’t have to toss dried out playdough? All you need to do is run it under warm water and massage it really good and it will be as good as new.

Fixing sticky playdough

If your homemade playdough is too sticky you can fix it with some extra flour. If it sticks to your hand or the table, then your playdough is too wet. Add a little more flour and knead it until you have soft playdough again.

Getting playdough out of carpet

Carpet and playdough is not a good combination. If you find playdough before it dries you can usually use a piece of playdough to dab it with to get some of it off. It is too sticky let it dry for a few hours.

Use a brush or butter knife to break it up and loosen it up. Then try to vacuum as much up as possible. You can use a warm wet washcloth to try to scrape up the rest.

More Playdough Recipes

Now that you know all the playdough tips and tricks lets get to some favorite playdough recipes. There are so many to choose from.

Adding Color to Playdough

• Homemade Play Dough with Different Colors – Kids will have a lot of fun trying to color their playdough by using different mediums such as: gel food coloring, liquid food color and a crayon.

Slow Cooker Playdough

• Slow Cooker Playdough Recipe – Have you ever thought of making playdough in a slow cooker? This is a great idea to use a crockpot and the colors turn out so vibrant.

2 Ingredient Play Dough 

• Flour and Oil Play Dough – This recipe uses flour and baby oil. It is safe to eat and super easy to make.

Silky Smooth 2 Ingredient Playdough

• 2 Ingredient Play Dough – This playdough is very silky and smooth to the touch, the best part is it only uses two ingredients.

Cloud Dough Recipes

Have you ever heard of cloud dough? It’s a great sensory sculpting playdough, often made with just two ingredients. The result is a light and silky mixture that’s easily molded but is still crumbly. It’s easier to clean up than traditional playdough and isn’t sticky either!

• How to Make Cloud Dough – Find out how to make cloud dough with only two ingredients. You will get a nice, soft and fluffy dough.

• Softest Gluten Free Cloud Dough – Use cornstarch and baby lotion for the softest sensory cloud dough.

• 3 Ingredient Cloud Dough – Make cloud dough using 3 ingredients. It is soft and moldable and kids love it.

Foam Dough 

Foam dough is a fun sensory activity that takes playdough to a whole new level using shaving cream. A tip – if you are sensitive to synthetic fragrances, opt for unscented shaving cream!

• Fun Rainbow Foam Dough – Create some fun rainbow colored foam dough with only 2 ingredients.

• Foam Dough – This is a mix between play dough and moon sand. Sensory kids are going to love it!

• How to Make Shaving Cream Playdough – This shaving cream playdough foam dough recipe will keep your children busy for hours.

Movie Inspired Play Dough 

• Frozen Inspired Play Dough – If you have Frozen fans in your home they are going to love this sparkly playdough inspired by the movie. 

Playdough Inspired from Trolls

• Poppy’s Playdoh – This playdoh has vibrant colors to mimic the color of Poppy’s hair from the movie Trolls. 

Glitter Play Dough 

• Shimmer Play Dough – Use some old eyeshadow to make super shiny shimmery playdough.

Sparkly Glitter Playdough

• How to Make Glitter Playdough –  Learn how to make playdough with glitter to really make your playdough fun and sparkly.

Galaxy Playdough

• Galaxy Playdough – Star confetti and glitter makes the prettiest out of this world playdough that is perfect to accompany a study of astronomy.

Gluten Free Playdough

• How to Make Natural Homemade Gluten Free Playdoh – How to make safe playdough for people that have gluten sensitivities or Celiac disease.

Gluten Free Rice Flower Playdough

• Gluten Free Playdough – This recipe uses rice flour instead of all purpose flour for a safe playdough for those with gluten sensitivities.

Non-Toxic Scented Gluten Free Playdough

• Gluten Free Peppermint Playdough – Healthy, non-toxic gluten free playdough made with fresh peppermint.

Scented Playdough

• Fruity Scented Playdough – Make fruity scented playdough with only two ingredients.

Kool-Aid Playdough

• No Cook Kool-Aid Playdough – Super easy to make playdough that smells absolutely amazing by adding a Kool-Aid packet for a pop of scent and color.

Gingerbread Scented Playdough

• Gingerbread Scented Play Dough – This gingerbread scented playdough is perfect for Christmas or a cookie theme.

Safe-to-Eat Playdough Recipe

• Easy Playdough Recipe Without Cream of Tartar – This is a great DIY playdough recipe that is safe for kids to eat.

Edible Playdough 

• Edible Sunbutter Playdough – This is a fun and edible sensory activity using sunflower butter and powdered sugar. Kids will love playing with and eating it!

Birthday Cake Playdough

• Birthday Cake Play Dough – This play dough uses frosting as one of the main ingredients. 

Marshmallow Playdough

• Marshmallow Play Dough – Easy and tasty, fluffy, marshmallow playdough. Your kids will think this is the best recipe ever and enjoy the STEM activity to go with it.

Peanut Butter Playdough

• Peanut Butter Play Dough – Two ingredient peanut butter and powdered sugar playdough for a sensory fun and edible time.

Color Changing Play Dough

• Magic Color Changing Play Dough – Add an awesome heat changing color pigment to your next playdough recipe to get this awesome effect.

Bonus Color Changing Playdough

• Color Changing Playdoh – Surprise your kids with this fun playdough by adding a color changing pigment to it so it changes colors when it warms up.

In Conclusion:

As you can see, there are lots of simple recipes that use simple ingredients to make your own playdough. Next time you want to do something fun with your kids, or you are stuck in the house on a rainy day, pull out an easy recipe. Young children and even older kids will have so much fun creating together.