Messy Moments: Homemade Play Dough Recipe

Wet, rainy days are unfortunately all too common here in Cumbria, often meaning me and the little man are stuck indoors. It’s times like this that I need to come up with ways of keeping him entertained that don’t involve an afternoon of watching TV! Thinking up with something fun that will keep him amused for a while is challenging, especially when you need to think on your toes and be creative with what you have in the house!

The perfect go-to is homemade play dough! We do have several pots of branded doh in the house, but what could be more fun than making some of your own? We make our dough using everyday household products found in most kitchen cupboards, ideal as no need to spend loads of money on ingredients, plus it’s super easy and quick to make! I thought we would share the recipe we use with you all and hope that it helps fill an empty afternoon for you and the kids!

Ingredients

• 50g Salt
• 250g Flour (any type is fine)
• 140ml Water
• 2 Tablespoons of cooking oil
• Food colouring (optional)
• Plastic bag – we use small freezer bags but any bag is fine

Method

• Add the salt, flour, water and cooking oil to a large bowl.
• Knead the ingredients until thoroughly mixed together
• If you want to add colour to your dough add a few drops of food colouring and mix together – I tend to add a small amount at a time until happy with the colour (we split this batch in two to make different colours)
• Pop your dough mix in a bag and pop in the fridge for 10 minutes
• Enjoy your homemade dough!

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There are plenty of things around the house to use to make your dough play more fun including but of course not limited to:

• Knives, forks and spoons are great for mark making
• Cookie/biscuit cutters
• Toy cars – run the wheels over your dough to make tyre tracks
• Play scissors
• Straws/ pipe cleaners / pom poms
• Buttons
• Googly eyes
• Rolling Pin

Leo could play for hours with dough – there are just so many things to make and do it really helps stimulate kid’s creative minds and is also makes great sensory activity too. He loves getting his hands ‘sticky’ and helping to make the dough just as much as he enjoys playing with the end result and is always super proud that he made it himself!

Make sure you store your dough in an airtight container once you have finished playing and it will stay fresh for ages, providing hours more fun

What are your rainy day go-to activities? Be sure to let us know if you give this dough recipe a try.

Have you tried our DIY Slime recipe ?