We’ve all been there, your kids are bored, won’t play with their pile of toys, and you’re fighting the temptation to turn on the TV. Looking for a fun, easy, and educational activity for your kids? Look no further!

Save money by scaling back on non-essentials while creating a hands-on activity that will keep your kids engaged for hours with a homemade DIY play dough recipe! Making your own playdough is easy, only requires a few ingredients that you likely already have, and is fun and safe for kids to make. Below is all the info you need to get your homemade playdough on.

1. Gather your ingredients

Here are the ingredients necessary to make playdough that looks and feel like store bought:

• 2 Cups of Flour
• 2 Tbsp of Oil (any cooking oil will do; coconut oil, vegetable oil, even olive oil)
• 1/2 Cup of Salt
• 2 Tbsp Cream of Tartar
• 1 1/2 Cup Boiling Water
• Gel Food Coloring (Optional, but allows you to create any color you can mix up).

2. Mix the ingredients

Like with baking, it helps to mix all your dry ingredients together to ensure you don’t have any clumps then pour in your liquids. Be sure to follow the amounts exactly to achieve the ideal playdough consistency.

3. Knead the dough

The next step is to knead the dough. This means using a rolling pin or using your hands to press the dough until it stops being sticky and begins to have that familiar playdough texture; about when the dough is completely smooth. If you have a child that is not capable of mixing the above ingredients, this is a great time to get them involved in the DIY process and knead some dough too. 

Optional: Once it’s thoroughly kneaded, separate the dough into piles equal to how many colors you want, then add a little gel food coloring (and prepare for your hands to change color), and knead until the color is no longer streaky.

4. Play time

It’s time to enjoy the not-so-hard fruit of your labor! Break out cookie cutters, silverware, or whatever you have in the house that can be used to up the fun-factor. Encourage your child to create basic shapes, or more complicated sculptures like an animal. There is no set standard for how playdough should be played with, and there are no rules. It’s totally fine if your child simply wants to squish it around in their hands.

5. Store the playdough

It is important to store playdough in an air proof container as soon as you are done playing with it as it dries out quickly if left out too long. Pro Tip: use some leftovers-containers you already have to keep things tidy. Even when stored properly, playdough will eventually dry out but you can revitalize it by adding just a little bit of water to the mixture and knead it back to the desired consistency.

Playdough is a great activity for kids to use their imaginations and it's a lot of fun to make too! You may even find that going back to store bought playdough isn’t necessary, and you might even start thinking about other objects around the house you can use to squish playdough into interesting shapes. Get creative and see what the whole family can make!