“Playdough!! More playdough!!” … yelled regularly at our houses by the babies who LOVE the easy homemade playdough!! Yes … the 18 month old LOVES it AND it is SO good for those tiny little hands as they develop the muscles needed for great fine motor skills!
And it’s also great for the bigger kids too! That’s the beauty of it! Whip up a couple batches – and it lasts a long time and serves every age level some fun!!
So if you were searching for easy homemade playdough – you’ve come to the right place! Then looking for ways to use it to help those kiddos learn? You know we’ve got you covered!
Homemade Playdough Recipe
Why easy homemade playdough? Well, mama, if you’re like us, maybe you’ve been frustrated by the quick dry out factor of the stuff you bought for the Christmas stockings or Easter baskets last year.
Or maybe you’re looking to save a few bucks with a homemade playdough recipe.
We know one reason we’ve enjoyed making it at home is because the kiddos can join in the fun of making that easy homemade playdough – which then encourages them to want to use it more often too!
It’s pretty amazing how “hey, do you want to do some letter stamps in playdough?” is met with MUCH MORE excitement when the kiddos feel excited about using the playdough that they actually helped make!
So you guessed it… we choose easy homemade playdough over the store bought stuff EVERY time. And you will not want to miss this awesome recipe that Krista whipped up that we’re sharing with you here!
The recipe is from back in her preschool teacher days that she made every week for her little friends. It’s really the perfect recipe that is easy to make and doesn’t require cream of tarter! Who has that in their cabinet anyway?!
Throw it in a tupperware container and IT LASTS A WHOLE YEAR! Can you believe it?
Our Best Homemade Playdough Recipe Easy to Print!
Alright friends. We’ll talk you through making your first batch of Krista’s special recipe – but it will be a piece of cake!! Then we’ll show you where you can print your own copy of this cute recipe for safekeeping AND give you all the ideas for using this great stuff for LEARNING FUN!
Here we go!
Easy Homemade Playdough Ingredients
Stock up on these items (or check your pantry because you probably already have them!)
- Flour (2 ½ cups)
- Vegetable Oil (3 tablespoons)
- Salt (½ cup)
- Water (2 cups boiling)
- Kool-aid packages (2 packages)
That’s it!! Nothing complicated that you have to order and mostly things you already had, right?
And you probably figured this out – whatever color Kool-Aid you get determines the color of your playdough! Mix and match for fun new colors, of course too!
Here’s Your Easy Homemade Playdough Directions!
- Mix dry ingredients together.
- Add boiling water and oil, stirring quickly!
- Allow to cool enough to mix with your hands.
- Knead together until the playdough is smooth and mixed well.
- Store in a sealed bag or container. Lasts for one year! Woohoo!!
We like to pick one day for our homemade playdough recipe fun and make all the colors we know our kiddos will love. Then we store in small tupperware containers that all go in one container. Keep it in an easy spot where kiddos can grab on their own and get playing!!
Want that recipe in an adorable one page printable? You got it! Inside our FREE Parent Guide, we included the easy homemade playdough recipe as a BONUS. You can grab that quick, cute, one page printable inside that FREE guide HERE!
Once you print it, we like to laminate and then hang inside of a kitchen cabinet door. Now forevermore we’re ready to whip up the best homemade playdough recipe without ever looking it up again! We call that a mom win!
Homemade Playdough Easy Learning Activities
So now, what do we do with all of this fun easy homemade playdough we’ve just created with our kiddos? Well, just let them play, yes! Of course, just free, fun creative exploration time is great with playdough. Great for their little growing minds and finger muscles!
However, if you’re looking for a little more strategic playdough learning for the kids – we’ve got your back.
Here’s a list of our favorite ways to use our homemade playdough recipe for learning!
- Letter stamps! Push those letter stamps in the playdough for practice with letter recognition, phonics, sight words, spelling their names, and so much more!
- Writing with a closed writing utensil and any plastic writing utensil! Practice writing names, letters, sight words, and more!
- Story retell! Work on comprehension in a SUPER engaging way by having your kiddos retell a story they read (or that you read to them!) by creating the scene, characters, items from the story, etc.
- Quietly play with it while listening to a chapter book being read aloud or an audio book. This is the perfect way to keep little hands busy while they practice sitting still for longer listening and learning.
- Build letters and words by rolling out the dough into long “snakes” and forming letters and words with it!
- Practice phonemic awareness for early readers by having them “press sounds” into the dough. Or syllables! Ex: “Tell me the sounds in cat!” And your child presses their fingers into the dough as they say “c, a, t!” Do you the same thing with syllables!
What Else is in That FREE Guide that Includes Your Printable EASY Homemade Playdough Recipe?
If you haven’t grabbed that FREE GUIDE to get your printable playdough recipe yet, you’re going to want to do that now and know that you’ll have ALL KINDS of goodness coming your way!
It’s FILLED with EASY and TANGIBLE tips for any busy mom to implement as you try to balance it all and help your kiddos learn.
So whether you’re a stay-at-home mama, work outside the house mama, or homeschool family – you’re going to LOVE this guide for quick tips to keep those kiddos learning without extra work for you!
In it, you’ll find 9 Steps to Keep Your Kids Busy & Learning While You Work.
These tips will help you:
✔ Get routines in place that work for you.
🌸 Be the rock star mom whose kids LOVE learning.
✔ See results that will make you and your kids smile about learning.
Grab these FREE tips and get your kids learning. It will also include your cute easy to print homemade playdough recipe you just read about!
Then sit down with your coffee and computer. Or rock those babies. Your kiddos will be busy learning with playdough and doing SO MANY other fun things we share with you in that guide.
You CAN do this, Mama. We’ve got your back.
You can pick up that FREE PARENT GUIDE HERE: https://learningathome.theliteracyladies.net
Now quick – throw some Kool-Aid mix in your Amazon cart and be ready to make the best homemade playdough recipe ever! Have so much fun! You’ve got this!
We’re praying for you & cheering you on!
Happy Reading.
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