Rainbow’s Favorite Playdough Recipe

Mrs. Tipa here! I want to share with you Rainbow’s Favorite Playdough recipe.

The recipe for play-dough below is very close to our beloved Mrs. Jenny’s favorite tried and true recipe. Mrs. Jenny taught this recipe to me. I adapted this play-dough recipe for teachers to use with the children in the classroom and is PERFECT for parents to use with your kids at home. I have personally used this recipe with my two year old godson and he loved being able to scoop the ingredients, and then mix with a wooden spoon. I tweaked the recipe so the measuring cup quantities are easy for young children to count, and you only need three different measuring tools:

1 half cup measuring cup

1 quarter cup measuring cup

1 teaspoon measuring cup

If you have older children who can count higher than two, you can definitely use just the quarter cup, or you can double the recipe!

WARNING: There is a stove involved in this recipe. In the classroom, we have a window where the children can safely watch the cooking process outside of the kitchen while the teachers stand inside the kitchen, at the stove.

Rainbow’s Favorite Playdough Recipe

INGREDIENTS

2  half cups of FLOUR    

2 quarter cups of SALT

2 teaspoons of CREAM OF TARTAR (if you don’t have it, you can use cornstarch or lemon juice instead)

2 half cups of WATER

5 drops of FOOD COLORING of your choice

1 teaspoon OIL (liquid coconut oil, canola oil or vegetable oil works)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a nonstick saucepan or pot, add the flour, salt and cream of tartar. Mix with a wooden spoon.

2. Add water and oil into the middle of the dry ingredients. Mix again with the wooden spoon until there are no more clumps and the mixture is smooth.

3. If you only want to make one color at a time, add the food coloring now.

4. Cook on low heat until mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan and sticks to itself (about 3-5 minutes)

5. Cool until you are able to handle it.

6. Knead until smooth and place in an airtight container. (A ziploc bag works!)

TIP: This recipe can be doubled, just make sure your pot is large enough.

WANT TO MAKE DIFFERENT COLOR PLAYDOUGH? You can cook the dough first, then when the dough cools, split the dough in two parts or four equal parts. Add one to two drops of food coloring for each part of dough, folding the drops into the dough. Your hands may get stained with food coloring, but the children love this.

The process of making this playdough helps children build a variety of developmental skills. I’ve listed some below:

Math Skills Learned: Uses number concepts and operations (Counts and Quantifies), Compares and Measures.

Science Skills Learned: Uses tools and other technology to perform tasks

Language Skills Learned: Listens to and understands increasingly complex language (Comprehends language and Follows directions)

Physical Skills Learned: Demonstrates fine-motor strength and coordination (Uses fingers and hands)