Rainbow Play Dough

By Rachelle Doorley of Tinkerlab

This recipe was created when we made our usual play dough recipe in the wrong order, but it also appeased my daughter’s desire to have more than one color of dough. It’s simple to make, stores well and has a nice texture, making it our best play dough recipe yet!

Materials:

2 1/2 cups water
1 1/4 c. salt
1 1/2 tbsp. cream of tartar

5 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups flour
food coloring or liquid watercolors

Instructions

Mix everything but the food coloring together in a large pot until somewhat smooth. It will be lumpy. Not to worry, the dough will get smoother as it cooks.
Cook the dough over a low heat. Mix frequently. The water will slowly cook out of the mixture and you’ll notice it start to take on a sticky dough appearance.
Keep mixing until the edges of the dough along the sides and bottom of the pan appear dry. Pinch a piece of dough. If it’s not gooey, the dough is ready.
Place the dough on a counter top or large cutting board that can withstand a little food coloring.
Knead the warm dough until it’s smooth and then divide it into the number of colors that you’d like to make. I divided mine into four balls, flattened each of them, added a little bit of food coloring, and then kneaded it in, adding more food coloring as needed to get the desired shades of yellow, pink, teal, and lavender.

When you’re finished oohing, aahing, and playing, store the dough in a large Ziplock bag or sealed container. Unused, it’ll keep for months. Here are some play dough tool ideas: click here.

Rachelle Doorley is an artist and mother of two. She publishes the popular children's creativity blog, Tinkerlab.com. She holds a master’s degree in arts education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and lectures on visual literacy at Stanford and the San Jose Museum of Art.