No Cook Play Dough

Play dough is the stuff childhood is made out of. Even better if the child could make the play dough! With this no cook recipe, you could have a pint-sized assistant make this half-pint of wonderful dough!

Some interesting facts about this play dough recipe: because of the amount of salt used, it does not harvest bacteria. Also, it is not harmful if ingested. That said, you should still discourage it's consumption.

Let's get started!

For this recipe, you'll need:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup salt

2 tbsp cream of tartar

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 1/2 cup boiling water

optional: food coloring, and glitter (why not?!)

You can either heat your water over the stove top or in the microwave, just make sure it is either boiling hot or near it.

If kids are helping you with this project, keep them clear of the hot water. But you probably already know this.

Combine the cream of tartar, salt, flour and oil together.

Be careful not to add the entire 1 1/2 cups of water all at once. You may not even need all of it to achieve a play dough consistency. I added about a 1/4 cup at a time, and had about 1/8 cup of water left at the end. However, if you find you added in too much water, throw in some flour to even out the consistency.

How will you know if you have achieved the right consistency? Well, if after kneading, nothing is sticking to your hands, you're already there!

After adding in all the ingredients, take a couple minutes to knead the dough thoroughly so that all it is perfectly clear of any floury chunks. Kids love this part, so let them have a go at it!

Using Neon shaded food coloring, I divided the large mass of play dough into 4 equal parts, and used about 8 drops of coloring per each. This ensured the colors would be vibrant and fun. Of course, you could add more or less coloring, depending on the shades you want to achieve. You will have to knead the dough thoroughly after adding the coloring so that the color can be evenly dispersed.

Play dough's only fault is that it dries when left out, usually beyond the point of repair. To prevent this, the play dough should be stored in air-tight containers. You could even use zip lock bags.

I had some small containers, which I upcycled from their previous life as baby-food tupperware. After thoroughly washing them out, I used them to store my different colors of play dough!

I wanted to dress up the containers to make them more exciting for the kiddos, so I measured out and cut card stock which I stuck to the lids of the baby-food containers. I drew a spunky little fellow on top. Adorbs!

All that play dough we made fit perfectly in 8-3.5 oz containers, for a grand total of 28 oz!

Enjoy your home made no cook play dough in fun little containers!