Homemade playdough without cream of tartar

 

I swear by playdough activities! They are the most popular open-ended sensory activities among kids -and adults- of all ages!

Older children can spend hours playing with playdough. It is also the perfect activity for your little ones as you won’t worry if they put it in their mouth and you can make it quite soft for their little fingers to be able to mould it easily. In case you haven’t played with playdough recently, you can’t imagine how relaxing it is for parents and other adults, who play along the kids.

You can easily make it whenever you’re stuck at home and you run out of fun ideas. And it is the perfect activity to prepare, when you wait for young visitors and children for playdates at your place.

We often take playdough in containers with us, when we go out for coffee or food. Simple tools such as coffee cups or leaves, rocks and sticks can encourage everyone’s imagination. We also use the thick menus to make our creations on them, if the tables are not suitable.

This post is about the best and easiest homemade playdough and the benefits of playing with it for children. Also you will find ideas for loose parts to provide children with playdough and make it more fun.

Here are some ideas for loose parts that you can use with playdough and fire up children’s imagination and creativity.

Of course you can buy a variety of playdough tools if you’d like, but what can you do when you’re stuck at home and you don’t have any? Or you can see your kids going through the phase in which they lose their interest in playdough. There are plenty of objects you can provide with playdough to fire up their imagination.

Cookie cutters or ice cube trays with various shapes

You probably have various cookie cutters or ice cube trays and moulds for Christmas, Valentine’s day and other celebrations that you can use with playdough.

Recycle & reuse materials

Reuse old or plastic cutlery and utensils or disposable coffee cups, plates and bowls.

Natural materials

You might have some already at home, such as corks, or you can collect a few at your yard or during your next walk at the park or the beach. For instance, you can provide children with age appropriate materials such as pebbles, sticks, leaves, pine cones, sea shells or flowers.

Art and craft materials such as popsicle wooden craft sticks, pipe cleaners, google eyes, buttons.

I swear most of the young children love pretending to make birthday cakes and blow out candles! And guess what? They will use the sticks as birthday candles.

Plastic animals and other figurines

They could be dinosaurs, jungle animals, fish or any other animals that could encourage children’s imagination.

Cars, monster trucks and other vehicles

Children can observe the traces of the car wheels on the playdough, engage in dramatic play and more.

Elements based on children’s interests and the learning you want to encourage

It could be letters and numbers, traffic signs, blocks, uncooked pasta or rice, mint, plastic fruit and vegetables and so much more.

Printables or drawings used as play mats or guides

For instance, I’ve used printables with letters and numbers, faces without facial characteristics or empty plates. In this way, you can direct children’s play and learning during these activities through play and discussions. You can also draw something on a paper, put in a plastic pocket and stick it on a table, so the children can use it as a play mat as well. There are step by step guides online for various playdough creations that can be useful for children, who constantly ask others for help. Providing them with a step by step guide can support their self-esteem and independence.

*Tips about these simple tools, toys and materials*

-It would be great, if you have the time to think of a theme before you start making your homemade playdough. For example, if you have sea shells and plastic sea animals, you can make blue playdough.

-Do not use objects and toys in which playdough can get stuck and it will be tricky to clean. For instance, there are different types and shapes of cars that you can use, so choose the ones that will be easy to clean afterwards.

-You can use toothpicks or soak the toys and other materials in water before you wash them, especially when playdough is stuck and dried up in them.

 

Benefits of playdough activities

You can support children’s development in various areas, when you make playdough and you give them the opportunity to play with it. You might doubt it, but simple daily activities can have a great impact.

First of all, playing with playdough can help children’s mental health and it can work like a squishy stress ball. This activity can help everyone in the family to calm down and ease tension -especially if you add certain essential oils-!

When children play with playdough alongside friends, siblings and other family members, they can improve their social skills, such as sharing, taking turns and communicatring. Children can build positive relationships with others and they can also improve their language. For instance, you can introduce new vocabulary, such as roll, mould, punch, pinch, flatten, cut and squish, or grainy, smooth, lumpy while playing with playdough.

In addition, playdough activities build children’s ability to concentrate and encourage children to develop creativity, imagination and self-esteem (as there is no right or wrong). Pretend and symbolic play is crucial for children’s cognitive development.

For the little children, it is a great actvity to develop hand and eye coordination. Moreover, moulding playdough is excellent for strengthening fingers, hands and wrists and improving children’s fine motor skills. This can eventually help children’s cutting and writing skills.

Playdough activities even develop children’s science and math skills. It motivates children to explore dough’s qualities and textures, discuss mixing and creating colours or what happens when liquids or dry ingredients are added in the mixture. Children can help with measuring the ingredients or moulding them at the end. Moreover, while they are using containers, cups and bowls for playdough activities, they experiment and explore basic math concepts such as quantity and space.

Last but not least, learning can take place about certain topics through calm discussions or the materials that are used. For instance, I like making faces and different facial expressions with playdough and talk with Kindergarten children about emotions as emotional development is crucial for all children. So I take the opportunity to talk about different emotions while playing with playdough.

 

Homemade playdough recipe

There are various recipes for homemade playdough, however this is my favourite one! The kids can help measuring the ingredients or mould it at the end, when it’s cooled down. Unfortunately, they can not help us, when we cook it on the stove. However, I prefer to cook the playdough, as it is perfect for salt dissolution and I get a nice texture at the end.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of flour
• 1/4 cup of salt
• 3/4 cup of water
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons of lemon juice
• food colouring
• optionally seasonings or scents of your preference

 

Directions:

1. Pour water, oil and lemon juice in a medium to low heat on the stove.
2. Add food colouring or liquid scents to the water mixture.
3. After the water is hot -not boiling though-, slowly add the salt. When the salt has been dissolved, you can add the other dry ingredients, which is flour and optionally dry seasonings to the pot, while you’re mixing to combine. Use a wooden or plastic cooking spoon.
4. Continuously stir until the ingredients combine, dry out and begin to form a ball. If there are parts that seem a bit sticky, flip them back and forth frequently until the playdough doesn’t seem sticky anymore. You don’t need to cook it for too long, as it’s actually better to be a bit undercooked as it will firm up as it cools down.
5. Place it on a sheet of baking paper until it cools down a bit. Then knead the dough for a minute or two to bring it all together.

 

*Last hints & tips*

-> I store the playdough in airtight containers or zip lock bags in the fridge for weeks.

-> The only ingredient I didn’t have at home before I started making playdough was the food colouring. If you don’t add food colouring, you can still make beige playdough and add sparkles, flowers or something else to make it exciting for the kids. Or you can experiment adding juices or foods, for instance carrot, beetroot and blueberries, or spices such as paprika or tumeric.

-> The food colouring that I use stains skin, clothes, even wooden spoons! I choose to use gloves to knead it at the end and I don’t use my new spoons and pots. There are no issues, when the dough cools down though. Be aware even if that’s not always the case.

-> I usually make two batches of playdough in two different colours at the same time. In this way, children can experiment mixing colours and they also feel that they have more options, which they love in general. In some cases I get a bit different texture in the two batches. However, mixing them the texture of the ‘not so good’ playdough gets better.

-> If you want to fix dry playdough, you actually need to rehydrate it.  One of the most popular ways to do it is to wrap the batch of playdough with a damp paper towel overnight. Your second option is to add drops of water gradually, while you keep kneading it or you can just use a spray water bottle.

 

This post was all about the perfect homemade playdough without cream of tartar and playdough benefits for children. In addition, you read various ideas for loose parts to add to playdough and make it more fun for your little ones.

Have lots of playdough fun!!