#kidscrafts #snowmancraft #homemadeplaydough

Last year my first adventure in making homemade playdough was the Glittery Playdough that we used for our snowman craft. It was a fun activity and the snowmen turned out so cute. The kids loved it!

As is typical with a first-time experience, though, there were some things that I made a mental note to do differently. First, no candy for buttons. The color from the blue M&M’s ran a little bit onto the dough. Also, the playdough recipe was a good one but not the best one. I later found a much nicer recipe that I shared with you in my How To Make Playdough post. It makes a much softer and more pliable dough. Very fun to use. When my students have a choice between the homemade and store-bought, they ask for the homemade every time. I’ll never go back.

Playdough Snowman Craft Supplies
Homemade white playdough

Eyes

Nose
Buttons

Arms

Scarf

Hat

Display mat

This year we used colored pasta for the eyes, nose and buttons. It worked great! We had just studied the Letter J is for Jewelry and I had tons of colored pasta left from our jewelry making craft (pasta = beads.) Those little colored morsels were just begging to be used! The arms were made with pretzel sticks. Scarf? A pipe cleaner. The top hat was cut out of black construction paper.

The mat that I made last year for the glittery snowman looked so nice that I decided to do it again. It is a special way for the children to display their works of art.

Here is a copy of the display mat for you to print and use. I recommend laminating it. There are two mats to a page.

Free Printable Mat for Snowman

Homemade Playdough Recipe

Tip: This is a nice “keep ’em busy” craft to do at a holiday party where little children are among the guests. They will love it and so will you!

Note: this author is an Amazon affiliate. Anything you purchase here on Ducks ‘n a Row through Amazon will result in a small commission for me. In advance, “thank you” … Sinea

When I first began to teach preschool I was advised to be sure to include lots of play dough in my lesson plans. Best advice ever! With the right little tools– plastic cookie cutters, rolling pins, molds etc.- my little students have enjoyed hours of learning fun. Rather than buying it from a toy store, though, I would suggest that you make your own. It is so easy to do and you can make as much as you want!

How to make playdough #playdough #playdoughrecipe #playdoh Ducks n a Row

There are many homemade playdough recipes out there. I have tried a few and so far the one I like the best is the “classic” play dough recipe, using cream of tartar.

Here’s how I made it:

Classic Homemade Playdough

1 cup bleached all purpose flour

1/4 cup salt

2 tsp. cream of tartar

2 T. cooking oil

1 cup water

food coloring

I doubled this to make larger quantities of each color for my preschool class.

Combine water, oil and food coloring. Keep adding drops of food coloring to get the shade you want. Expect it to look a bit lighter, soon as the flour is added.
Add salt, cream of tartar and flour. Stir till it is smooth and the consistency of cake batter.
Add the batter to a saucepan and heat on medium heat, stirring constantly. Eventually the thickening batter will pull away from the sides until it is in a lump.
Scoop it out of the pan onto a plate to cool.
When cool, store in a plastic container with lid or seal in a Ziploc bag. The play dough should stay fresh for up to 6 months of play.

Tip 1: Spray your saucepan with cooking spray before heating. It helps prevent sticking.

Tip 2: Spray the plate you will be cooling the play dough on with cooking spray, to prevent sticking.

homemade playdough shapes using cookie cutters #playdough #playdoh

Play dough shapes made with cookie cutters.

Love homemade playdough?

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Note: this author is an Amazon affiliate. Anything you purchase here on Ducks ‘n a Row through Amazon will result in a small commission for me. In advance, “thank you” … Sinea