There are SO MANY homemade play dough recipes out there! Remember that Pinterest Fail turned awesome ooey gooey Homemade Slime Recipe we discovered? That same weekend I also made tons of batches of homemade play dough searching for a non toxic edible recipe that was toddler friendly and this is the one we settled on!
(And just for the record, if you have a cat that likes to eat weird things I recommend storing this inside of a plastic sealed container instead of a Ziploc bag – our cat attacked ours!!)
You can buy Play-Doh pretty inexpensively, but sometimes you want a quick toddler friendly version that’s cheaper.
DIY Edible Homemade Play Dough Recipe:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 Tbsp. Canola oil
1/8 cup Salt
1/4 cup boiling water
1 pack Kool-aid
Mix all ingredients together well. Add flour if sticky. Make sure it is COOLED off completely before handing it to the child!
I wanted to make rainbow colored play dough for the kids to enjoy with St. Patrick’s Day activities and then to go along with science prism lessons (and of course summer rainy season fun!) so I opted for using Koolaid packets instead of food dye. (except the light BLUE color you see above was achieved by adding 2 drops of food dye since the “blue” Koolaid I purchased actually ended up being red!).
Play around with the colors and have some fun! I tried both Grape and Purplesaurus colors for the purple play dough and they both turned out roughly the same color. The same for the Cherry and Tropical Punch flavors for the red color.
I know our local daycare/preschool is HUGE into sensory play so if you have extra consider giving your local daycare a call and asking if they want some extra homemade play dough! Add a few rolls of your play dough into a container with some plastic animals, dinosaurs, trucks, or other items to encourage more fun!
We love the Safari Ltd. TOOBs
Do you have a “go-to” homemade play dough recipe that you use? I’d love for you to share it with us in the comments! I love this recipe because it’s so smooth and soft and smells seriously amazing! This recipe absolutely offers a strong smell for sensory play since you are using Kool-aid!
And for those of you interested I took a photo below of the specific flavors of Kool-aid that I bought and made so you can buy the same exact ones if you want them!
Extra Tips & Obvious Disclaimer:
Obvious Disclaimer – this homemade play dough recipe is NOT meant for your child to eat or snack on!!! It is simply made with regular household kitchen ingredients and will not harm a curious toddler who goes in for a lick! I have NOT had any issues with hands being stained – make sure you have very very thoroughly mixed in the Kool-aid so there are no pockets of colors left unmixed!
Check out our Edible Snow play sensory recipe and our easy DIY Kinetic Sand Recipe for some more fun with your kids!
JOIN THESE Facebook Pages & Groups for even MORE SENSORY Ideas for Kids!:
Sensory Ideas for Kids Facebook PAGE
Sensory Ideas for Kids Facebook GROUP
Sensory Ideas for Babies Facebook GROUP
Other POPULAR Sensory Recipes:
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Danielle Thomas says
This is great….but what has to be cooled off? Are you cooking it or just mixing it?
Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says
The boiling water is mixed together with everything – just make sure that has cooled off before the kids play with it! 🙂
Brittany says
Will it stain the child’s hands when they play with it?
Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says
Brittany we’ve not had any issues with it staining our kiddos hands! Just make sure everything is very well blended so there are no pockets of Koolaid that haven’t been mixed in!
Dee says
Does it have to be canola oil? Can it be olive oil or vegetable oil?
Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says
I’m sure any type of oil will work fine. It just happened to be what I had on hand.
Kylee says
Do you thing just regular food coloring would work ?
Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says
I don’t see why not! You may need to slightly adjust the liquids then in the dough if you take out the Koolaid. We use it for an extra sensory of smell.
Dee says
It was so easy to make and just the right amount for a 2 yr. old to handle! He’s been playing with it for an hour! My daughter had cut up an old shower curtain into rectangles to cover her students desks during play dough time. Somehow I ended up with one. Blessed!
Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says
Perfect! I’m so glad your little one enjoyed it!
Lulu says
How long does the play dough last? Should it be stored in the refridgerator?
Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says
I threw ours out after a couple months just because my toddler messed a lot of it up but I’d refresh every couple months. I didn’t store it in the fridge although that wouldn’t hurt! I just had it in an airtight tupperware container stacked up in my kitchen.
Madelyn says
Hey there this recipe seems awesome I wanna try it for my son. But I am curious how long it last
Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says
Ours lasted at least 6 months until I finally got tired of it and threw it away!
Nicole says
Does it leave any oily residue on your hands or fabrics? Thanks! Looking forward to making them!
Nicole says
Does it leave an oily residue on your hands or fabric? Thanks!
Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says
No if anything it is a very dry feeling sort of like a moon dough! We really love it!
Wendi Hughes says
Does it smell like cherry, orange, and green apple?
Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says
It smells like the kool-aid does! So there’s definitely a sensory component!
Danielle @ A Sprinkle of Joy says
How much fun is this?! I love how bright the koolaid makes it!
Becky says
Could you add the kool aid to the water for easier mixing?
Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says
I don’t see why not but I haven’t tried it yet!
Tiffany Benton says
We are hosting a play dough making party where will will make 100 individual containers of play dough. Any chance this recipe can be doubled, tripled etc. and still come out as great? This is for an adoption fundraiser. Thanks!
Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says
Hey Tiffany! What an AWESOME idea! I have never made such a large batch but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. The trickiest part I would think it just making sure that it’s mixed thoroughly in such large batches! Double and triple recipes should be just fine!
Sabra Casey says
Thank you for the article! I can’t wait to try this!
Sandra says
Hello! Thank you for this amazing recipe! I’m wondering if I could use it to make holiday ornaments? Will I need to bake the creations or will they air dry?
Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says
HM good question! I would personally try the lowest your oven could go to help dry them out but too much heat would make them crack.
Shelby Gruden says
My kids need this so much!!! Such a great idea! Thank you for sharing. Be sure to check out my blog for more ideas and inspo! Let me know what you think!
Ashleigh Cooper says
This is great and I’m totally going to have to make some for my toddler. Thank you so much for sharing!
Kinga Boros says
Hi Crystal! Thank you so much for this recipe! I need to try it out ASAP for my toddler. For sure he’ll love it. BTW I linked this article to one of my soon-to-be-published articles. I hope that’s alright.
Shawna says
This was the worst playdoh recipe I’ve tried. I had a favorite one but cannot find it so I tried this one. My daughter’s teacher needs playdoh for class tomorrow. Now I’m out a batch of ingredients. The salt stayed too rough and it did not get smooth. Will have to look harder for the recipe with cream of tartar that cooks on the stove.
I guess it must work for others but I cannot risk another batch.
Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says
Oh no! I’m sorry you couldn’t figure out how to make the play dough!
Natasha says
If I could only find a good Gluten Free recipe! We have celiac!
Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says
You can just sub out gf flour – that’s what we do now!
Tammy Karnik says
try using baby rice cereal instead of the flour!
Aleshia says
Can it be made without the salt?
Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says
I think it could, it may just not last as long!
Jill says
Hi, can I use cornstarch instead of flour ?
Jen says
Would vegetable oil work instead of canola oil?
Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says
Yes it would.
Sharon Goldsworthy says
I made 5 batches of this for my grandchildren and they loved it. I made it last week and they came over this morning and immediately went to get the play dough. Every batch was moldy. I had put them in separate Ziploc bags. Why did this happen? I want to make more but I can’t if it is just going to mold.
Crystal @ Surviving a Teacher's Salary says
Oh dear that doesn’t sound good at all! Maybe try a tupperware container with a lid that has a better seal?