So, it seems we’re staying home for a couple more weeks. And with the lockdown and curfew situation, it’s almost impossible to find a toy store or a school supply store open. So, I had to resort to a homemade playdough recipe to keep the little ones happy and busy!
This recipe is one of the easiest I’ve found. You can find every one of the ingredients in your kitchen. And in case you’re short on food coloring, I have a solution for that too! Stick around.
Homemade Playdough: Ingredients & Tools
So basically this is a 1 pot kind of a recipe. You’ll need:
- 1 small or medium pot
- 1 large spoon (Wooden or Plastic)
- A non-stick surface for kneading the dough (a plastic try would do)
As for ingredients:
- 2 Cups All-purpose Flour
- 3/4 Cup Salt
- 8 Teaspoons Lemon Juice
- 2 Cups Warm Water (37 – 40 degrees C)
- 2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil (This will affect the smell of your playdough so you probably shouldn’t use olive oil)
- Food Coloring
- Food storage container or Plastic Ziploc Bags
How to Cook it
In one pot on Medium Heat:
- Add & stir together the flour, salt, and lemon juice
- Now Add the oil & warm water
- Continue stirring
- Enjoy the smell!!!
- Remove from heat once you have one big ball of dough
- Let the dough cool down a bit
- Knead until smooth (You should get the playdough texture at this point)
A Touch of Color
So, here you need to decide how many colors you’re adding. I personally went with 5 colors. The ingredients here will give you 5 to 6 large homemade playdough balls.
Separate your dough into balls and add the color you want to each ball. And knead, knead, knead. It’s a killer arms workout!!
Personal Notes:
- If for some reason you feel the dough is a bit dry to cracking at the edges add more oil. A couple of drops at a time!
- You might think that’s a lot of salt, but this is a safe recipe regardless. And in case your child tries to eat it, it’ll be too salty and he’ll never do it again!
- Mixing colors will give you a large variety and colors we don’t usually find in packaged playdough. And it’s an exciting step for the kids too!
- You can try using powdered food coloring. However, I think it’ll take you a bit longer to incorporate the colors equally in the balls.
- USE GLOVES! No need to use gloves before this step, but you’ll regret not wearing a pair at this point.
- If you’re out of food coloring, read below!
- Once all dough balls are cool and at room temperature, you can place each in a plastic container or bag.
Natural Food Coloring Alternatives
Keeping your kids healthy and safe is usually your ultimate goa. So you can always replace artificial ingredients with natural ones. In this homemade playdough recipe, you can replace the food coloring with your own coloring prepared from real food. Actually you can use this alternative to color cake icing, whipped cream or anything that needs coloring.
I have tried a couple of these alternatives, but you gotta keep in mind that they don’t really give the EXACT color or shade you’re looking for. Check this for the alternatives.
