Below you will find the recipe, along with a free downloadable tag to use if you would like to give this homemade playdough as a gift for Valentine’s Day!
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, get creative and have some fun, hands-on sensory play with your little one! I am going to share my tried-and-true recipe that I have used over the years to make playdough for my own children as well as for my preschool classroom. The best part is that this budget friendly, no cook playdough recipe is quick and simple to make.
Create the Dough
Ingredients:
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 Cup salt
2 Tablespoons Cooking Oil
2 Tablespoons Cream of Tartar
1 1/2 Cups of boiling water
1-2 Tablespoons of Food Coloring (depending on how saturated you would like the color of your dough)
Optional additions:
2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract for scent
glitter to add some sparkle
To begin, mix all of the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Have your child help by dumping in each of the ingredients and then stirring them all together.
The next part involves boiling water, so it goes without saying, for safety, do not involve your child in this part of the process.
Heat the water in a separate bowl until boiling. Once boiling, add in the 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and the food coloring. Stir gently.
Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and slowly stir. Be cautious, this mixture is very hot at first.
Continue to stir the mixture until the color is distributed throughout and the mixture becomes smooth. Once it has cooled down enough to touch, I find the best way to get it to the correct playdough consistency is to remove it from the bowl and continue manipulating it with my hands on a flat surface like a cutting board. Please be aware: the more food coloring you use, the greater the chance that you may tint the color of your skin while mixing the dough. For this reason, you may choose to wear gloves.
Once the dough is mixed and smooth you can add in the glitter. Kids LOVE glitter so involving them in this step brings them pure joy! Honestly, they can’t really add too much, so I usually let mine put as much glitter as they want into the dough, and it has always come out great.
Play
Now your dough is ready to play with. Some great ways to enhance the playtime are by using heart shaped or the Valentine themed cookie cutters or small heart shaped manipulatives like these wooden hearts I purchased at the Dollar Tree.
Playing with playdough has so many benefits for your child. It provides them with a calming sensory experience. It gives them time to work those fine motor muscles in their fingers and hands. It can also be used as an extension of learning activities! I love to incorporate letter stamps into playdough play. Anytime I can reinforce letter recognition I’m all for it. Stamping in playdough is an excellent way for your little one to practice their name!
Give as a Gift
This homemade playdough would also make an excellent gift for your child to give to their friends for Valentine’s Day. You could put the playdough in a small jar, or baggie and pair it with a heart shaped cookie cutter. For extra cuteness, I have created this free, downloadable gift tag that you can attach to your playdough wishing your little one’s friend a DOH-lightful Valentine’s Day!
Storage
Storing your playdough in an airtight container will enable it to last for an extended period of time. I have used properly stored homemade playdough up to several months later and it has still worked great!
