I recently volunteered to make play dough for my son’s first grade class. They needed nine batches in a variety of colors. The recipe they provided said that I could use Kool Aid as an alternative to food coloring, if desired. As a kid, I drank gallons upon gallons of Kool Aid every summer, and I have very fond memories. I was excited to try the play dough recipe.
It was pretty straightforward, flour, salt, cream of tartar, oil, water, and one packet of Kool Aid per batch. Mix all of the ingredients together in a pan and cook for about 5 minutes. I’ve made play dough before, so the ingredients and method were familiar to me. Everything worked out well. The Kool Aid made really bright colors, and the scents were fun.
The next day, I opened a bag to smell the play dough, and it didn’t smell the same as the day before. I opened each bag, and all of them smelled bad. I had made an extra batch for my boys to play with, and they didn’t even want to play with it because of the smell. What happened? They had smelled so good the day before!
I thought about all the first graders (and the teachers) trying to do their crafts with this stinky, icky play dough, and there was just no way I could send it to school. I decided to throw it all away and re-make the play dough using food coloring.
After a trip to the store for more salt and cream of tartar, I followed the recipe the same way, but mixed in food coloring instead of the Kool Aid, and it turned out great! The next day, I smelled each bag of play dough and they all smelled normal. Whew!
Now I am curious about how I can make play dough that smells good… you can be sure that I will be experimenting!
If you are interested in making regular play dough (without Kool Aid), here is the recipe:
- 1 cup flour
- 1/3 cup salt
- 2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 Tbsp oil
- 1 cup water
- food coloring, as desired (see below for the amounts I used to get my colors)
Put all of the ingredients in a pot and set it over medium heat on the stove. Stir continuously. When the play dough forms a ball around the spoon it is ready! (It takes about 5 minutes.) Place the play dough on wax paper or parchment paper to cool. When it is cool, knead it and store it in an air tight container (I use sandwich bags).
If you like the colors I made, here are the amounts of food coloring I used for each batch:
- Pink: 5 drops red
- Red: 20 drops red
- Orange: 5 drops red, 15 drops yellow
- Yellow: 15 drops yellow
- Lime: 15 drops yellow, 10 drops green
- Green: 25 drops green
- Teal: 10 drops green, 15 drops blue
- Blue: 20 drops blue
- Purple: 15 drops blue, 10 drops red
I used the plain old food coloring that is available in many stores, I got mine at Target.
Thank you for checking out my post on making Homemade Play Dough!
“But now, O LORD, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You our potter; and all of us are the work of Your hand. Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD, nor remember iniquity forever; behold, look now, all of us are Your people.”
Isaiah 64:8-9
~ Sarah ~
