Rainbow Play Dough

Hello happy St. Patty’s Day surprise!

My plan was to make a simple batch of play dough to replace the sparkly dried out purple stuff that happily met our cookie-making, glitter infusing, practice cutting, snowman-making needs over the past two months. I asked my daughter what color she would like this time around, and she answered with…

ALL of them.

Ahem. Right. The way I have always made play dough requires that I add the color to the whole batch while it’s cooking, making it difficult to make multiple colors. But by some lucky (see the emerging Irish theme?) happy accident we managed to add the ingredients in the wrong order, which is no doubt the result of making dough with a two year old while chatting with my mother-in-law and goo-gooing at my baby! But, as that same luck would have it, I think we landed on the BEST batch of dough yet. The texture is buttery and I was able to deliver on the multiple colors request. So, without further ado…

The Recipe

• 2.5 cups water
• 1 1/4 c. salt
• 1 1/2 tbsp. cream of tartar
• 5 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 2.5 cups flour
• Food coloring or liquid watercolors. I really like Wilton Icing Colors, which make gorgeous shades of play dough to match any occasion, mood, or toddler request.

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 starts to take on a sticky dough appearance. Keep mixing until the edges of the dough along the side 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. I added more food coloring to get the desired shades of yellow, pink, teal, and lavender.

Store the dough in a large Ziplock bag or sealed container. Unused, it’ll keep for months. For play dough tool ideas, you can read this post from last year.

There you have it, rainbow play dough for St. Patty’s Day!

And how are you celebrating this green/rainbow/Guinness/shamrock/pot of gold/Leprechaun holiday?

This post is happily shared with We Play, ABC and 123, Tot Tuesday, Craftomaniac, Making the World Cuter, Kids Can Craft, Made by you Mondays, Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, Kids Get Crafty, Play Academy, For the Kids Fridays