From my Art and Ideas for KIDS blog

I have been making playdough for my kids now for awhile. I have seen several recipes, and tried them all. I have mixed a couple of them and perfected the "art" so to speak, of making a batch that kids will love you for.
Here is the recipe.
1 c All purpose flour
1 c Warm (not hot) water
2 tsp Cream of Tarter
1 Tbs Vegetable oil
1/4 c salt
1 pkg Unsweetened Koolaid
Food coloring as desired
This version is the most efficient and uses the least of each ingredient that it can and still come out well.

Combine all the ingredients and blend well to get all the lumps out of your mix. I do this directly in my non stick cooking pan. See picture below:


Heat your mix at a Med to Med High Temp. Stirring the bottom of your pan slowly. As you scrape the bottom of the pan, you will see your mix begin to lump up as below:


The mix will continue to lump, and will become harder to "stir". At this point, it's more of a flipping of your mix. You will start to see the "cooked" portions as darker, "dry" portions of lumps. See below:


As your lump becomes more and more solid, you should press out the blob to make as much of the still wet mix touch the heat of the pan. See below. Notice that you can still see the color difference between the cooked and still wet parts of the dough.


When you are finished, your lump will look like this:


After you remove your dough from the pan, knead it to finish smoothing out your mix. After kneading it, be sure to press it flat to allow for a larger cooling surface. Do not put into containers until completely cooled.


The Koolaid makes your dough scented, and helps tremendously with coloring.

If you experience stickiness with your dough, DO NOT add flour! All you need to do, is pour vegetable oil onto your hands and knead the oil into your dough until it no longer sticks!

The key to smooth dough is in the mixing before you cook. Smooth liquid mix translates into smooth dough. This is where the warm water is a help. However, too warm, and you can CAUSE lumps. Go for room or baby bottle temp.

Dough should be stored in a sealed container. I use a large ziplock bag. My dough has kept for up to a month, and usually gets tough before it actually spoils.

I buy cookie cutters, pizza rollers, pie crust cutters, rolling pins and all sorts of other playdough tools out of the cooking utensil section of the thrift store. My kids love the texture and feel of this mix.

The best part about this dough is the ease of clean up after making it, and the ease of clean up if it gets where it should not. One of the worst things about store bought dough is that if it gets somewhere it shouldn't and dries, you are just out of luck. With this mix, all you have to do it get it good and wet with warm water, and it dissolves. Happy playing! Betcha won't able to stay out of it yourself! Let me know how you like it!