Best Playdough Recipe (Super Easy and Silky Soft) 

One of our favorite dough recipes to make is an Easy and Soft Play Dough Recipe!

I’m going to share with you how to make an easy homemade and silky soft playdough recipe you will love! 

I’ll also be sharing how to make playdough soft again! 

Making soft playdough isn’t hard at all. 

In fact, this soft dough recipe is so simple to put together, you’ll most likely wonder why you haven’t made it sooner. 

It can be so easy with the right ingredients and a little secret ingredient to go along with it (love!) 

If you are looking for a non cooked homemade playdough recipe, then you are in the right place. 

This is the Best Playdough Recipe I have tried out and I hope you love it too. 

Bug Preschool Theme Freebie: 

Why we love making our own playdough at home: 

• You know exactly what simple ingredients are going into it

• It’s the easiest way to incorporate sensory play and fine motor skills benefits into your home

• You know exactly when the batch was made so you know when to throw it out

• It feels good making your favorite play dough recipes (sometimes with little hands as helpers) right at home, from scratch. 

We’ve made our share of dough DIY recipes.

We’ve made our share of dough DIY recipes: 

Here are the best recipe ideas we have tried: 

• How to make 2 ingredient Cloud Dough

• How to make Peeps Play dough

• 2 Ingredient Homemade Play doh Recipe

• How to make Moon Dough Recipe

• Kool-Aid PlayDough Recipe 

• Easy Dough Recipe using Coconut Oil

And, more.. 

But, this time around I will be showing you how easy it is to make this colorful DIY rainbow playdough. 

Only thing you’ll need is a couple of homemade items and a pinch of love. 

Related: Looking for a fun set of Free Printable Play dough Color Cards? Check out this set of free printables for kids here. 

Preschool Themes for the Entire Year: 

How do you make easy homemade playdough?

The best easy playdough recipe in my opinion is one that has really nice and specific measurements and a pinch of love to it. 

There are many ways to go about coloring your dough. 

A simple recipe calls for simple ingredients, right?

Different colors can be made using: 

• gel food dye

• drops of food color

• kool-aid play dough packets

• Natural color (from fruits and vegetables)

How to make Kool-aid Playdough (Tap Below)

Here are some of our favorite play dough recipes + ingredients:

• Easiest and quickest homemade dough

• 2 ingredient soft play dough 

• Peeps play-doh soft recipe

• Peppermint ball of play-doh

• Play dough recipe using drops of essential oil

• Baby Lotion recipe

• Cheap Hair Conditioner 

• Cook Play dough Recipe 

Silky Soft 2 Ingredient Dough we Love (Tap Below)

Soft Homemade Playdough Recipe Variations: 

There are simple steps which can be used to put together an easy dough.

Best Homemade Playdough Recipe Ideas: 

You’ll need: 

• a mixing bowl or ziploc bag

• gel food coloring (different colours for rainbow dough!)

• much water (preferably warm water to hot water 

• vegetable oil (or olive oil) 

• essential oils (optional)

Dry Ingredients: 

• cream of tartar (or lemon juice as an alternative)

• much flour (all purpose flour)

• salt

Different ways to make Play-dough

• medium heat (cooking method)

• no cook dough

• 2 ingredient play-doh

• 3 ingredient play doh

Creative Ideas for Favorite Recipe Ingredients: 

• • food colouring (for making brilliant colors)

  • Natural colors can also be made if you choose the no food coloring route.

  • 1/2 cup salt

  • 1 cup of water

  • large bowl

  • wax paper

  • 1 cup flour

  • canola oil (optional)

  • tempera paint (optional)

  • plastic wrap (for storing play dough)

  • 1/2 to 1 tablespoons cream of tartar

Busy Book Printable Bundle we Love: 

The Final Step: 

Bring forth small batches of the soft play-doh onto your littles playroom table. 

Break the play-dough into small pieces and use cookie cutters for play. 

So much fun for 3 year olds, 4 year olds and for kids. 

The best part, store the dough in an air tight container to be reused the next day. 

This is a great opportunity to enjoy your playdough for the days to come! 

Playdough Storage: 

The following steps will allow for the dough to remain in a normal state to be reused over and over again for at most 3 months. 

Here are our tips to slow the process of making a brand new batch. 

Store in an airtight container or in an original plastic play-doh container. 

Be sure to store in room temperature so that the dough forms and remains silky soft. 

Dried playdough can result in a smaller shelf life. 

So, be sure to keep moisture content by keeping the dough in an air-tight container or ziploc bag. 

The best way is to use a sealed container or plastic bag that you can find at the grocery store.

This excludes any playdough smells that may occur if storing incorrectly. 

Voila! Storing playdough is as easy as 1-2-3.

How to make Playdough Soft

Got dry playdough? 

If the soft play dough loses its soft texture, be sure to add drops of water. 

The key to bringing back that smooth texture is to add a drop of water here and there and kneading the dough together. 

With a little bit of water and kneading of the dough, this will eventually cause your Dough to feel almost like a bread dough. 

It can also be a fun activity that incorporates fine motor skills for young children.

Adding extra water (and a little time) is the main ingredient for diminishing dry dough. 

Homemade Playdough Video Tutorial

Soft Homemade Playdough Recipe

This recipe consisted of: 

• 1 Cup of Flour

• 1 Cup of Warmer Water mixed with a generous amount, a few drops, of food coloring (this is to make the colors brighter!) 

• ½ Cup of Salt

• ½ Teaspoon Cream of Tartar

• 1 Tbs of Coconut oil (Olive oil/cooking oil will work too) 

Make your own Playdough 

This Easy homemade playdough recipe is amazing!

No cook playdough recipe ideas are my favorite.

I love that there is no extra cost to making this DIY playdough recipe.

Also, a rainy day calls for making a second batch or more of playdough.

This is a great way to whip up a quick batch of playdough so you can pull out the different colors of playdough at any time.

I love that making play dough takes little to not much work to make.

It’s a good thing we have free flour, boiling water and vibrant colors in our kitchen cupboard to make this simple set of DIY projects at home.

Next time you are whipping up play dough, save some and create goodie bags for your littles friends.

A great idea is to bring your own play dough to a party, as a gift for your littles friends or in sensory play activities.

How do you make playdough without cream of tartar? 

There are even more fun ways to twist the classic play dough recipe by including a gluten-free option or cream of tartar.

Cream of tartar acts like a preservative which in turn makes the playdough last longer.

It also makes the playdough silky soft.

We made a DIY Play doh Recipe that did not contain cream of tartar. 

Check out our easy homemade play-dough recipe WITHOUT cream of tartar here. 

Super easy and simple.

I love that there are SO many different ways to create and make an easy homemade play-doh recipe.

Whether it be with 2 ingredients, 3 ingredients or an easy recipe play doh that does not include cream of tartar. 

How do you make homemade playdough without cooking? 

Easy peasy! 

An easy way is to heat up the water in a thermostat so that when it comes time to mixing there is no need to heat over a stovetop.

Just use the warmer water!

Very easy and effective way for making the best homemade playdough in my opinion. 

DIY play doh doesn’t have to be hard. It can be so easy with this simple method. 

What does cream of tartar do for playdough? 

Cream of tartar just makes the dough act a bit smoother to touch.  

It also adds a bit of elasticity. 

What does Cream of Tartar do for Playdough?

It ultimately is a preservative that allows for the play dough to last a bit longer. 

This specific play dough recipe is a cream of tartar play-doh recipe. 

Related: Looking for a DIY dough recipe without cream of tartar? 

Check out our Best play dough recipe WITHOUT CREAM OF TARTAR here.

How do you make playdough with 3 ingredients?  

The best play doh recipe using 3 ingredients can look more like a 2 ingredient playdoh. 

The only extra ingredient that would make it a 3 ingredient playdough recipe can look like adding: 

• Food Coloring to bring in that color. 

• Glitter or Sequence to add a bit of a flair to the play doh

These are some ideas of what would make a 2 ingredient dough turn into a 3 ingredient dough quickly. 

A 3 ingredient dough is just a 2 ingredient dough with a bit of fashion to it. 😀 

Here are some of our 2 ingredient and 3 ingredient doughs: 

• Homemade Playdough Recipe

• Peeps Dough Recipe Tutorial

Super easy and super fun! 

Related: Check out our Koolaid Playdough here! 😀 

How do you make playdough with 2 ingredients?  

How is play dough made with only 2 ingredients? 

Easy peasy! 

All you really need to make a 2 ingredient playdough is a base and a liquid, 

For example, this 2 ingredient dough recipe is simple and only incorporates: 

• Cornstarch

• Conditioner (hair conditioner)

When mixed together, it is THE SOFTEST play-doh ever!! 

And, remember to add a little water if your dough seems a bit hard. 

Use a damp paper towel or wet paper towel for a long time to also unharden playdough. 

Be sure to have enough water on either toilet paper or kitchen paper towel. 🙂 

Alright, I hope you enjoyed the plethora of original recipe ideas to make play dough fun. 

I hope your littles have a great time with these play dough ideas. 

If you are a preschool teacher, please let me know how you went about using these ideas. 

And, don’t forget to save this page and bookmark it for those rainy days. 

Check out our FAVORITE 2 INGREDIENT playdough recipe here.

Fun Things to do with Playdough

Here are some ideas of fun things to try with play doh: 

• Simple Feather Color Sorting dough Activity 

• Layers of the Earth Play doh Project

• DIY Foam Sticker Rolling Pin for Play Dough Play 

• Montessori Raincloud Counting Play dough Activity 

I hope that you enjoyed this simple set of dough ideas and this DIY play dough recipe! 

If you try any of these great recipes out, be sure to share in the comments below. 

Have fun and enjoy! 

Related: Don’t forget to check out our Preschool Activity Binder for an all in one Preschool Busy Book!