DIY Natural Play Dough

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Who doesn’t love play dough?  Not only is it great for fine motor skills in young children, it boosting creativity and can be used as an educational tool.  Unfortunately, the play dough you buy in stores is really toxic, even though it says safe for children.  This post from Living Traditionally, goes into detail about what is in play dough and why we should stay away from it.

“The current manufacture of Play doh has released its ingredients list as: flour, water, salt, boric acid and mineral oil. Additional ingredients include, a starch based binder, a retrogradation inhibitor, lubricant, surfactant, preservative, hardener, humectant, fragrance and artificial color. A petroleum additive gives the play doh it’s smooth texture and borax prevents mold from growing.” -Living Traditionally

There are some natural options out there, like eco-kids Dough if you aren’t a do it yourself kind of person or you just don’t have extra time.  When I introduced my youngest to play dough several months ago, the first thing she did was put it in her mouth.  Thankfully it was one I made myself so I knew it was non toxic and made with natural dye.  Believe it or not, this is really easy to make and fun to use vegetables and spices to make the colors.  The kids will even like getting involved.

I got the dough recipe from here and she has a gluten free recipe as well.  I tweaked the recipes for the natural dyes based on what things are easily available and what worked for me.  Watch the video below to see just how easy it can be to make your own play dough.

Play Dough Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 cup natural dye
1 Tbs. olive oil

Instructions

1.  Mix flour, salt, cream of tarter, in large pot.
2. Add olive oil and natural dye and stir well, until combine.
3. Cook on low/medium until dough pulls away from the sides (about 5 minutes).
4. Allow to cool and knead to combine.
5. Store in an air tight container for about 2-3 months.

Red

2 cups of water
1-2 beets chopped

1. Boil water and beets for 10-30 minutes depending on how dark you want the color.

Blue

2 cups of water
1 cup of shredded purple cabbage
1 tsp. baking soda

1. Boil water and cabbage for 10-30 minutes depending on how dark you want the color.
2. Add 1 tsp. of baking soda to turn the purple water blue.

Green

2 cups of water
1 Tbs. spirulina

1. Bring water to a gentle boil.
2. Add spirulina and whisk until dissolved.

Yellow

2 cups of water
1 Tbs. turmeric

1. Bring water to a gentle boil.
2. Add turmeric and whisk until dissolved.