The Best Play Dough Recipe & 21 Free Printable Mats

How to make homemade playdough the easy way plus free printable mats to keep kids and toddlers entertained for hours.

Play Dough -A Fun Indoor Activity

Are you looking for a fun indoor activity to do with children at home? With this easy playdough recipe, you’re about to have hours of fun!  

Today we’re talking all about diy playdough, but don’t be stressed! We’ll share some tips to make it less messy for you! 

Jump to:

• Play Dough -A Fun Indoor Activity
• The Best Play Dough Recipe
• Ingredients
• How To Make Playdough
• How Long Does Homemade Playdough Last?
• How To Avoid Lots of Cleanup
• Genius Tip
• How To Make Play Dough Mats
• Free Printable Mats
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

The Best Play Dough Recipe

I’ve seen a million recipes for homemade play doh, so we tested out a few! 

Let’s face it. The real Playdoh brand is expensive and it doesn’t stay soft very long, so making your own is a good way to go!

You won’t only save money, but you can have fresh soft playdough whenever you need it!

Play Dough Recipe With Cream of Tartar

By far, any play dough recipe calling for cream of tartar works the best. See the recipe below for our favorite one!

Play Dough Recipe With Hair Conditioner  

I was excited when I found a recipe with just two ingredients; hair conditioner and cornstarch.  We tried it out and although it smelled great and was super soft, it just didn’t hold up well when we actually played with it.  It stuck to the play mats and was a mess.  So stick with the tried and true recipes we’ve mentioned.

Ingredients

• white flour
• salt
• cream of tartar
• vegetable oil
• food coloring
• water

How To Make Playdough

DIY Play doh is easy to make. In a medium-sized pot, combine the flour, salt, cream of tartar, oil, food coloring or Kool-aid and water together.

Stir on medium high heat for 3 to 5 minutes. When the mixture forms a small ball, remove from the heat.

Knead until all the colors have blended in. Play with immediately or store in an air-tight container.

How Long Does Homemade Playdough Last?

Homemade play dough will last at least a few weeks if you keep it stored in an air-tight container. Be sure to put it away right after you are doing playing with it to make it last even longer!

How To Avoid Lots of Cleanup

Call me a lame mom, but I HATE all the toys that get dough stuck in all the nooks and crannies and drive me crazy and take forever to clean out!  

That’s why we’re a big fan of play mats! They are so much fun to play with and add no extra mess or clean up. Plus, they don’t take a lot of room to store. Another win! 

You can get all the free printable play dough mats at the end of the post.

Genius Tip

If you hate when all the dough colors get mixed together evidently making all the dough turn brown, consider making just yellow and blue play dough. That way, when it gets mixed together, it will be green. 

You could also do red and yellow to make orange or blue and red to make purple. 

How To Make Play Dough Mats

Making your own play dough mats is super easy. 

1. Find any free graphics online. Choose which mats you want to print. Print on a color printer. 
2. Put two mats together back-to-back, place in a laminator sheet and run them through your home laminator. 
3. If you don’t have a laminator, put them in a sheet protector. 

SHOP THE SUPPLIES 

Free Printable Mats

Even though making play dough mats is really easy, I’ve created 21 free mats you can use for play dough activities!

There are holiday play dough mats and some for every day fun.

I hope you enjoy them!

>CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ALL THE FREE PRINTABLE MATS<  

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📖 Recipe