Play dough is one of my favorite tools to facilitate meaningful, creative play for little ones. It is so versatile! You can pair it with loose parts for pretend and small world play, “cook” and “bake” with it, explore color mixing and texture, and it makes the perfect gift.
We have tried out a lot of play dough recipes, and this one is the absolute best!
It’s smooth, soft, squishy, and versatile. Plus, it keeps for a very long time. I just pulled some out of an old kit that we made 8 months ago, and all it needed was a little knead to get rid of salt crystals and it was good as new again.
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 1 Tablespoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 cup fine salt
- 1 Tablespoon glycerin*
- 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup boiling water
- optional add ins for scent and color: essential oils, kool aid packets, food color, cocoa powder, cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, freeze dried raspberry, sprinkles, glitter, ground coffee
*You can leave the glycerin out if you don’t have it, but this play dough is so much softer and squishier with glycerin added! I order mine online.
Simple No Cook Recipe
- Mix dry ingredients in medium bowl
- Mix wet ingredients in small bowl
- Stir in wet ingredients to dry mixture and add any color or scent ingredients. It will seem too sticky at this stage—don’t worry! Wait until it cools and it will be perfect.
- Mix well with spoon
- Let cool
- Give it a knead
- Enjoy!
I hope you love this recipe as much as we do. It really is the best. Have fun!
8 thoughts on “The Best No Cook Play Dough”