The Great Homemade Playdough Experiment

Over the past few months, I've tried out three different recipes for homemade playdough. Madeline has two cans of the authentic stuff, but it has become rather rubbery, and frankly, the residue it leaves on surfaces and hands is kind of icky. I began my search for easy-to-make soft playdough ...

The first recipe I tried out was this one for no-cook playdough. It was really easy to make, and what really caught my eye was that it didn't call for any fancy ingredients - just water, salt, and hot water. The resulting dough was maybe a little glutenous, but not particularly sticky. I didn't have anything to colour it with, so it stayed Boring Beige. It dried out pretty fast.

The second one I tried is called The Best Play Dough Recipe Ever, though I didn't have such a spectacular experience with it. I am not sure if I over-cooked it (though it says to cooked until formed and no longer sticky), but it was really really doughy and I couldn't get the lumps out. When I first went shopping for the ingredients, I accidently bought alum instead of cream of tartar, as well. Oops!

My most recent recipe is this one that I found via Kiddley. I am not sure that it's considered no-cook, because a person does have to know how to boil water, but it's takes less than ten minutes to make. I got to use the rest of my cream of tartar, too. At first pass, I was really pleased with this recipe - Madeline's new dough is very soft and smooth. It's getting stickier by the day, however, and I'm not sure I can simply fix it by working in a little more oil.

I haven't decided if I'll stop my experiments with this recipe. It's pretty good, but there is a recipe for microwaved playdough on Kiddley here in the comments that sounds kind of intriguing. Maybe that one should should wait until I have access to a microwave with a setting besides "super-hot", though ...

Comments

[Sarah]

We are still using that first batch I made of the best playdough ever. I think you have to cook it until it just forms a ball, then pull it off and wad it up a bit. Ours isn't lumpy or dry or greasy or wierd at all.

[Terri]

I'll have to ask my mom for her playdough recipe. I recall using it lots as a child and it tasted good too. :)

[julie]

have you tried scenting it yet? Vanilla extract.. bannana extract.... pepermint extract.... ooops. I forgot that toddlers eat everything.

[Jaime]

I will let you do all the research and I would love to know the recipe when you have the "perfect playdough"

[laura]

I'm going to use Kool-Aid to colour/scent my next batch of playdough. I just need to buy more salt before I make up another batch.

[Jaime]

Now I had never heard of that, don't forget to post how it all turned out. I am very curious!

[Mary P]

I've had the same recipe for ages, and until a year ago it worked just fine, but for some reason, in the last year every time I make it, it's come out all sticky and disgusting. WHY? I have had this recipe for *twenty years*!

This is too bizarre. Time for a new recipe.

I think I'll be trying out some of these!