Gracen’s been loving the tiny build a snowman play dough kit we brought with us so much this trip that I decided it was time to make a full batch for her to enjoy during our downtime at the apartment. I gave her some options, and she decided that chocolate play dough was the way to go. {Mmm… A girl after my own heart!} The only challenge while on vacation, of course, is not having a fully-stocked kitchen. Based on our favourite ever no-cook play dough recipe, I popped some ingredients onto our grocery list and hoped for the best. Relying on my limited French to read the German labels at our local market, I searched the aisles for cream of tartar and glycerine without any luck. I’m sure I could have gone elsewhere and eventually found what I was looking for, but I thought to myself, why? Back in the old days when I was babysitting or nannying at least 5 days a week, I relied solely on one from-memory play dough recipe {quite possibly the simplest recipe ever}, which consisted of three ingredients – flour, salt, and water. That’s it. And while it didn’t yield the stretchiest, softest, shiniest, last-for-at-least-6-months sort of dough, it was fun to play with and the kids loved it nonetheless. So back to the basics it was. And you know what? Our super simple no-cook chocolate play dough turned out great! In the words of Grae, it’s ‘so SO soft’ and ‘smells DE-licious!’
And it was made with just flour, salt, cocoa, a little bit of vegetable oil {I found tucked in the cupboard of our rental apartment}, some tap water, and a little bit of vanilla {which totally wasn’t necessary, but makes the scent that much more lovely}!
The method isn’t complicated either. We basically just dumped all of our ingredients into a bowl…
And stirred.
The result was this delicious ball of chocolatey goodness and one happy little lady.
After taking some time to hold and smell it first…
She dug her little fingers in.
Then it was to testing out the Hello Kitty cookie cutters she got in her stocking. ☺ As we played with it, I did notice that the dough that was left untouched for a while did seem to dry out out a little bit, but a quick knead and it was back to normal. I’m not sure how long it will last, but less than a week of vacation time left, my guess is that it’ll be just fine!
Super Simple No-Cook Chocolate Play Dough
- 2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup of table salt
- 1/2 cup of cocoa
- 1 1/2 cups of boiling water
- 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla (optional)
Put all ingredients into a large bowl. Mix well until a ball starts to form. Let cool for a few minutes and then dump it onto the counter and knead.
Play!
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This play dough looks yummy! Thanks for linking up to the Hands-On Play party!
When I first glanced at your ingredients, I was not sure I had any of those in my pantry. After a closer look, I realized that I do, just with labels in English. : 0 ). This looks really fun. We will have to try it. Thanks for sharing on Artsy Play Wednesday. I pinned it.
YAY! I’m glad, Theresa! :)
How long does this play dough last ?
Hi Diana!
We played with ours every single day for a week and it was still absolutely lovely. Sadly, we made it while on vacation and didn’t want to pack it home with us, so we didn’t get a chance to really test out its shelf life. My guess is that it would have lasted a good while longer though! :)
Silly question, is cocoa a spice or can I use the powder for hot chocolate???
Thanks for this recipe. I added a 1/4tsp of orange oil instead of the vanilla and it smells divine!
Oooh! That sounds like a lovely combination, Katharine!
This was so fun!! I made play-dough with my students today (I’m an OT) and I’m planning to make it with my kids at home, too! Smells amazing. Everyone loved it:)
Mine turned out too sticky. What should I add to make it less so? Thank you!