I've developed this particular recipe for homemade dough through a couple years of trial and error. It's easy and fast, no cooking necessary, and uses ingredients that you probably already have.
What you need:
- 2 cups sifted flour
- 1 cup salt
- 6 tsp alum
- 7 tbl oil
- 1/2 cup water
- food coloring
*A note on alum - You can easily find alum in the baking/spices section of any store. If you don't have it and don't want to go get it, you can simply increase the salt by 2 tsp and the flour by 1 tablespoons. Alum is a preservative and will keep your dough fresh and soft for up to 6 months, when stored properly.
What to do:
- If making entire batch one color, mix food coloring into water before mixing with other ingredients.
- Mix all ingredients together until dough is soft and pliable.
- If making different colors with the same batch, divide dough into balls, place in plastic bags, add food coloring, and squeeze and squish until color is blended evenly.
Enjoy!
My kids love mixing the color into the dough, and then when it's time to play I just pull out a random assortment of cookie cutters, spoons, and other play-dough toys we've accumulated. It usually keeps them busy for about an hour!
