Clay and Play Dough Recipes

The following are recipes for a variety of clays and play doughs. Some are meant
to be kept as soft doughs, to be used and reused as a soft play dough. Others are
meant to be used once. These clays are meant to be formed, cut, and air dried or
baked, then painted. I tried to gather a list that includes doughs and clays made
from a variety of simple ingredients, inexpensive, and easy to find. Some are
edible, and several include alternative ingredients for those who may be sensitive
to ingredients. I included sources at the end of each recipe so you can visit
websites. Many of these sites include other recipes and fun art activities.
As always, when recipes require heating or cooking, please supervise children
around stoves/cooking.
Please send photos of your creations to our photo gallery at
lhendrickson@psd1.org. I’d love to share your ideas and inspire others!
Cooked Playdough with Tartar
2 C flour
¾ C salt
4 tsp cream of tartar
2 C lukewarm water
2 tbsp vegetable oil (coconut oil works, too)

Large pot
Spoon for stirring
Gallon size bag or wax paper for cooling
Optional: food coloring and glitter
1. Stir together flour, salt, and cream of tartar in a large pot. Next, add water and oil. If
you’re only making one color, stir in the color now.
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the dough has
thickened and begins to form into a ball. Remove from heat, then place inside a bowl,
gallon sized bag or onto waxed paper.
3. Allow dough to cool slightly, then knead until smooth. If you’re adding multiple colors
after cooking, divide dough into separate balls (one ball per color), then place dough
balls into separate quart size bags. In each bag, add about 5 drops of food coloring to
 begin, adding more as needed to brighten color. Knead dough and color while inside the
bag so color doesn’t stain your hands. Once it’s all mixed, it’s ready for use.
4. Store dough inside the bags to keep soft. If stored properly sealed, it will keep soft up to
3 months.
5. For a fun addition, add about 1/4C glitter to the bag and knead into the dough.

For this recipe, and other ideas, visit www.iheartnaptime.net.

Edible Play Dough

1 C baby rice cereal
1 C cornstarch

1 lunch-sized unsweetened applesauce cup

3 tbsp vegetable oil
Food coloring
1. In a medium bowl, combine rice cereal and cornstarch. Mix well.
2. Add applesauce, oil, and food coloring. Knead by hand until soft and well combined. To
keep from staining hands with food coloring, drop dough into plastic bag, and knead
together.
3. Store in air tight containers.
4. Recipe creates 2 play dough balls.
For this recipe and more fun ideas, visit https://lilluna.com.

No-Cook Salt Dough by SeaLemon

1 C flour

½ C salt
½ C water
Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
Add more water if dough feels too dry. Add more flour if dough feels too sticky.
Optional Color:

To add color, press your thumb into the dough and make a well, then drop 5-7 drops of food
coloring into the dough. Knead dough and coloring with your hands until color is mixed. Color
will stain your skin. To keep from getting stained skin, place dough in plastic bag and knead the
plastic bag.
Another option for color is washable paint. This won’t stain skin and is washable. However, it
isn’t edible.
Storage:
Clay can be kept in sealed plastic bag about 4 weeks.

Baking Instructions:
Items made with dough may be baked until hard, then painted and sealed with spray sealer or
varnish. To bake, you may need to adjust baking time for smaller, thinner pieces and larger,
thicker ones.

Smaller, thinner dough: bake at 200 degrees F 45-60 minutes

Larger, thicker dough: bake at 200 degrees F 2-3 hours
It’s advised that you check items every 30 minutes for doneness.

For video of this recipe, and other fun craft ideas and videos, visit www.SeaLemon.com.

Applesauce Playdough Recipe

August 22, 2019 by littlebins 6 Comments

This super simple no-cook play dough recipe is GLUTEN FREE! We didn’t have any regular wheat flour
on hand to make our usual playdough so we used what we had, coconut flour. Usually I add cream of
tartar as well, but we didn’t have any of that either! So this is a genuine gluten-free playdough recipe
without cream of tartar. We love easy playdough recipes!

How To Make Applesauce Playdough

SENSORY PLAY WITH PLAYDOUGH
I signed on for 12 months of sensory dough as a sort of therapy for my son who has a sensory processing
disorder diagnosis. He can’t stand for his hands to be messy and often needs to wash them right away if
something gets on his hands.

As you can imagine, mud, shaving cream, lotion, finger paint, slime, even bubbles that are too dry and the
like are not that appealing to him! However I love the idea of messy play experiences and want to
introduce him to different types of sensory play ideas to broaden his experiences and become more
comfortable.

EASY NO BAKE PLAYDOUGH

Take a look at all the fun we had with this awesome smelling cinnamon and applesauce playdough. A bit
on the crumbly side but it easily formed a ball and worked well with our style of play. Try our traditional
no-cook playdough recipe if you want a playdough that you can really sculpt well with instead.

KITCHEN PLAYDOUGH

We added some simple kitchen tools to our playdough activity. Always look through your drawers to see
what you can find to change up the play. I bet you have everything you need already for a simple morning
or afternoon playtime!

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: 17+ Playdough Activities For Kids

Initially I placed a few kitchen tools, a melon baller and a set of tongs, on the table with the applesauce
playdough. I had no idea how much fun he would have these tools and ask for more.

Try some of these kitchen tools with your no-cook playdough:

• Apple slicer
• Potato masher
• Garlic Press
• Melon baller
• Kitchen Tongs
• Forks
• Rolling pin
This applesauce play dough also feels nice on the hands and is not as drying as some we have made.
Perfect fall sensory play too!
Applesauce Playdough Recipe
You may need to tinker around with this playdough recipe to find the right consistency for you. Every
time I make it I end up adding a little more liquid or a little more flour! Too sticky? Add flour. Too dry?
Add a little liquid. This play dough, like many gluten free baked goods, can be crumbly but forms a nice
ball too!

Playdough Ingredients

• 1/2-3/4 cup of coconut flour (or about 1 cup of regular flour)

• 1/2 cup of salt
• 2 tablespoons approx warm water
• 1/2 cup of warm apple sauce
• 1/4 cup of oil
• cinnamon

How To Make Applesauce Playdough

1. Measure coconut flour (or regular flour) into a bowl.

2. Warm the applesauce and water in microwave but don’t boil.
3. Measure the salt and oil, and add both to flour.
4. Add a good shake of cinnamon.
5. Pour in the applesauce.
6. Mix well (add flour or liquid as needed to achieve desired consistency).
7. Form a ball and lay out an invitation to play!

2 Best DIY Air Dry Clay Recipes {Better

Than Salt Dough!}
We tested popular DIY air dry clay recipes to find the best homemade clay for craft projects!
Comparisons of baking soda clay vs glue and cornstarch clay, with tips and tricks on how to make strong
and durable air dry clay!

I am currently addicted to homemade air dry clay! It is such a fun crafting material (even better than salt
dough!) for kids and adults. It takes only a few minutes to make, using easy to find non-toxic ingredients
most of us already have!
After testing a bunch of recipes, we selected two of our favorite air dry clay recipes (the second recipe
is the most fail proof! ) to share with you today! We will start with the recipes, followed by comparisons
and additional tips and tricks.

For a 100% fail-proof crack-proof clay, definitely the second recipe: glue and corn starch clay wins. It
is also very strong and durable when it air dries thoroughly.

The best things about the baking soda clay is that it dries to a beautiful opaque white, shrinks less while
drying, and looks amazing decorated with watercolors or brush markers. However, it is prone to cracking.
Read the helpful tips in the FAQ section at the end on how to minimize cracks.

Baking soda and cornstarch air dry clay recipe

 • 1 cup cornstarch
• 2 cups baking soda
• 1.5 cup water . ( You can also add food coloring to both recipes to make colored air dry clay.)

Stir all 3 ingredients together in a non stick pot, put the pot on medium or low heat, cook for a few
minutes.

The mixture will change from a soft paste to a consistency of mashed potatoes.

IMPORTANT tip:

If you under-cook the baking soda clay dough or use too much water, the dough will be sticky and
prone to cracking! Make sure to cook it till it pulls away from the pan. Turn off the heat.
Transfer the dough to a container and keep covered while it cools. Now your baking soda air dry clay is
ready to use! Read the helpful tips in the FAQ section at the end on how to minimize cracks.

Glue and cornstarch air dry porcelain clay recipe

• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup Elmers glue or any white craft glue
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice as a preservative
• 1 tablespoon mineral oil ( you can also use vegetable oil) which creates a smooth silky texture
Mix everything together in a non stick pan and cook the same way as described in the baking soda clay
recipe above. The only difference is that the mixture will start to look like cottage cheese with little
lumps. That’s when you would remove it from the heat.

Don’t over-cook this dough. It is almost fail proof, but over cooking will turn your dough hard and
leathery!

I have seen instructions to cook the mixture in the microwave, but I prefer stove top because everything
cooks more evenly and it is easier to see when the mixture is ready.

this dough is more sticky than baking soda dough. You can use plenty ofcorn starch for dusting and
rolling.

How to use homemade air dry clay

These two homemade air dry clay have very different characteristics which we will compare in the next
section below.

You can use homemade clay just like play dough. Always Keep the extra portion well wrapped when not
using. You can store the clay in the fridge for 1-2 weeks.

So which air dry clay recipe should you choose? Let’s look at some comparisons of these two popular
recipes.

Baking soda clay pros and cons

Pros: I love the simplicity of the 3-ingredient Baking soda clay! It dries beautifully to a white clay texture
and looks gorgeous painted with watercolor or other paints and markers. (Tutorial coming soon!)
Cons: it is more fragile and not as suitable for detailed designs as the glue and cornstarch clay. The clay
can crack if drying too fast. It is best to dry it slowly away from sun and heat for the first 24 hours.

Other things to consider: As an air drying clay, it is not as durable as the glue clay. However, it becomes
quite strong if you bake it at 200 degree for about 30 minutes, after it dries in room temperature for 1-2
days (to prevent cracking ).

Glue and cornstarch clay pros and cons

Pros: This homemade clay is fail-proof! It feels like play dough and silky porcelain clay. Because it is
more pliable and stretchy, you can roll the clay dough thinner, and create more intricate details like mini
house ornaments with tiny windows.
It does not crack, and is quite strong and durable after it air dries for about 5 days. Baking does not
improve the strength of this clay.

Cons: Requires more ingredients to make. As it dries, it shrinks a bit especially on the edges and becomes
more translucent ivory white vs pure white.

Other things to consider: The image below shows the difference between the two types of clay after
they are dried. You can see the baking soda clay pieces on the left are more opaque white.

If you like the pure white look of baking soda clay, you can add a tablespoon of white acrylic or craft
paint after this clay cooks and knead it into the dough.

How to prevent baking soda clay ornaments from cracking?

Baking soda air dry clay (recipe here) is beautiful and so fun to make, but sometimes it can crack while
drying.

To prevent cracking, the short answer is to cook it thoroughly, and dry it slowly

Make sure you measure the ingredients accurately, cook it thoroughly, roll it to thickness of 1/4″ to 1/8″,
and let it dry slowly during the first 1-2 days. Flip the pieces gently every few hours to ensure even
drying.

If your dough is sticky, it is likely to be undercooked or have too much water, which can lead to
cracking.
Baking soda clay can be finicky, but The glue and cornstarch clay is almost fail proof! It never cracks,
and does not need baking to become quite strong and durable. so that can be a good alternative.

Is homemade air dry clay strong and durable?

The glue and cornstarch clay becomes very hard and durable after air drying for about 5-7 days. The
baking soda clay air dries to the hardness of a cracker or cookie. If you bake it at 200 degree for about 30
minutes, it becomes quite strong.

Can I bake DIY air dry clay in the oven?

You don’t need to bake the glue and cornstarch clay. It may puff up or bubble a bit if you do.

Baking soda clay can benefit from baking. see question above.

Does homemade air dry clay crack?

The great thing about the glue and cornstarch clay is that it almost never cracks! Baking soda clay can
crack a little while drying.

To prevent cracking, make sure you measure the ingredients precisely, let the clay cook thoroughly, and
let the pieces dry slowly away from sun and heat for the first 2-3 days, unless you are baking it.
What can I use instead of cornstarch?

Some people are allergic to cornstarch. You can substitute with tapioca starch, or rice flour. Sticky
glutenous rice flour (easy to find at asian markets) works great too.

How long does air dry clay keep?

If you wrap them tightly in plastic wrap, they can last for 2 weeks or even longer in the fridge.

For these recipes and more ideas, visit www.apieceofrainbow.com.

Air Dry Clay

This clay will dry hard without baking. You can roll it, cut it into shapes, and paint it.
½ C cornstarch
4 oz. liquid glue
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp vegetable oil or baby oil

1. Mix cornstarch and oil together until it has an icing-like consistency.

2. Next, mix in the lemon juice and oil. Stir until combined.
3. Microwave 30 seconds, then stir.
4. Microwave another 30 seconds.
5. Knead clay briefly.
6. Sprinkle cornstarch on a piece of parchment paper or waxed paper. Place clay on paper
and knead cornstarch into it. If clay seems sticky, add more cornstarch.
7. Clay is ready when it has a smooth, creamy texture and it forms a teardrop shape at the
ends when it is pulled apart.
If clay texture needs adjusting, add more lemon juice and oil to make it more smooth and
creamy. Add more cornstarch to thicken it.
Store clay in a plastic bag with a little oil to keep it soft. If clay becomes hard, it can be softened
with a little petroleum jelly.
Clay will harden when left exposed to the air after 24-48 hours. May be painted and sealed with
spray sealer or varnish.
For more recipes (slime!) and other fun ideas, visit www.whatsupmoms.com.