How to… make scented Playdough! A fail safe playdough recipe!

There are many recipes on the web for making playdough. I made three attempts, before I felt I got it right (I was making some for one of our “story + art” projects and had a very dissappointed Red Ted when the playdough didn’t come out right). So I decided, that I would write a post to show you “How to make playdough – a fail safe playdough recipe”! Thank you @nimblebee2 for your help!

When we first made playdough, I was a little worried he would want to eat it, as we do a lot of baking and he loves to lick the spoon. Surprisingly, he didn’t. Playdough is like a magic word! 

Homemade playdough tends to be softer and not “smell” as nice, but it is just as much fun.. and we add a sneaky bit of vanilla and cinnamon to make it that little bit lovelier!

And here is how:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup plain flour
• 2 tbsp cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• Vanilla essence or cinnamon
• Food colouring, Red, Blue, Yellow

Very simple:

1. Put all ingredients (minus colouring and vanilla/ cinnamon) in a pan (your child can help – the photo shows Red Ted on our 1^st attempt, the remaining photos are the best recipe given above!).
2. Stir over a medium (!) heat. Until smooth/ less sticky looking. If very sticky, cook a little longer. Probably a total of 10minutes? (that by the way is my finger doing a pinch test in the photo)!
3. Let cool.
4. Divide into three batches and add food colouring / smellies (one vanilla, one cinnamon, one plain)
5. Store in fridge
6. PS see Red Ted’s apron – check out the link below, but that is a NO SEW APRON! Woohoo!

 (My pitfalls: too little salt (misread the recipe) & then cooking it too hot too rapidly!)

 Some recipes state to put the colouring whilst cooking, this is great if you want to get a really nice strong colour, as I found if you add TOO much colour at the end the dough gets sticky again. But it does mean cooking 2 batches! Ditto if you want to add lots of vanilla – suggest you add DURING the cooking process and not afterwards like me!

Enjoy the playdough!

Previous How Tos:

– Turn a T-shirt into a Halterneck (Guest Post)

– Easy & effective Fish Pinata

– Simple but effective paper frames (vlog) 

– How to make a Flower Pom Pom (guest post) – simply gorgeous – use as wedding decor! 

– How to make a Paper Envelope  

– How to make a No Sew Bib (out of an old shirt)  

– How to make a Fabric Mâché Bowl (from old scraps of fabric!)  

– How to make a Paper Flower (from newspapers)  (guest post)