Poppets Pre-School

Step One: Take a large bowl and add 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, oil, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons cream of tartar

Step Two: add in any dry extras such as glitter

Step Three: boil the kettle and pour 1 1/2 cups of the water into your mixture. Add in any food colouring at this stage so it mixes evenly through the dough.

Step Four: mix the ingredients together to form a dough.

Step Five: done! Your easy play dough recipe is complete and you’re ready to play.

Play dough problems: solved

Play dough too crumbly? Add a little more oil.

Play dough too sticky? Add in a little more flour.

Want a coloured play dough? For white snow dough use corn flour instead of regular flour. For chocolate dough  use a mix of flour and cocoa. For other colours, add in some food colouring. Add the food colouring along with the water, rather than trying to knead it in later, to get a more even colour and so the children don’t end up with colouring all over their hands. Try black space play dough. 

Want to make your play dough smell good? Add some fragrance by mixing in some herbs or spices with your flour: try cinnamon play dough. Using essential oils can be too harsh on children’s skin so you might like to try food oils such as orange or vanilla essence instead.

Want your play dough to last a long time? Wrap it up well in a plastic bag as soon as you’ve finished playing and your play dough could last for months.

Not got all the ingredients? If you discover you have no cream of tartar, no problem – just leave it out. You can make a basic dough just by combining flour and water if that’s all you have. The dough won’t last but will give you a great day’s worth of play.

Want to add in some extra play and learning? Try using cocktail sticks / tooth picks for maths play. Add pencils and try some mark making. Encourage imaginations with under the sea  or outer space play dough.