I feel like we’re re-entering a time of play dough kits and I won’t lie – I’m oh so excited about it!  When Miss G was a toddler, we had a minimum of four different play dough kits on our shelf at all times, we swapped them out for new ones each season, and they were played with EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  They were also our go-to gift for her little friends for several years…  We’d just come up with a theme based on what the little birthday person loved and run with it!  There are truly too many to remember, but we’ve done a mermaid play dough kit, a dinosaur play dough kit, a construction site play dough kit, a Star Wars play dough kit, and a Frozen themed play dough kit to name a few.  And this time around?  For the little friend who loves everything sparkly?  We decided to try something new – a unicorn play dough kit!

Seriously – play dough kits like this where everything is neatly stored in one container are the BEST for quiet time, independent play while mama has to get something done, sick days, or even as a ready-to-go activity for when friends come over.  The kits we make hold plenty of dough for multiple kids, plus the tools and loose parts add interest and expand upon what can be done with the dough. And it’s all just sitting there ready to go when the mood strikes!

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Here’s exactly what you’ll need to recreate this unicorn play dough kit:

• all-purpose flour
• table salt
• cream of tartar
• vegetable oil
• glycerine
• boiling water
• wilton gel colours
• iridescent glitter
• iridescent star confetti

 

• a unicorn figurine (we included this one by PAPO and it’s truly beautiful, but it’s also too big to fit inside the kit…  this smaller one or this smaller one – or both – by Schliech would also be great options)

 

• mini wooden rolling pin
• mini heart cookie cutter
• mini star cookie cutter
• acrylic flower gems
• clear acrylic diamonds
• pink acrylic hearts
• small acrylic mirror gems

 

• a divided GLIS container from IKEA

 

First up, you’ll need to make the play dough.  We went with four colours – aqua, a soft peachy pink, lavender, and a soft, buttery yellow and as always, we used our super soft, no-cook play dough recipe and our trusty Wilton gel colours {<— truly the best}.

Now, to create this kit, we made a recipe per colour, but 4 full batches is a tad much for the GLIS container, so I simply kept a little chunk of each batch for our kids to play with at home.  If you were making two unicorn play dough kits, I think you could probably get away with just doing the 4 separate batches and dividing each colour equally between the 2 boxes. 

If you’ve never made our play dough before, here’s a recipe run down…

• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup of  table salt
• 1 tablespoon of cream of tartar1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon of glycerine

 

• 3/4 cup of boiling water (measured in a dry measuring cup – this is important as wet and dry measures aren’t the same and using a wet measure will likely make your play dough too sticky)

 

• Wilton gel colouring {for colours like these, you’ll only need the smallest amount}

• fine iridescent glitter {I made a commitment to quit buying glitter once I learned about how detrimental it is to our environment, but we had this on hand and there are several eco-glitter options now available}

Place all of the ingredients, save the boiling water, in a bowl and whisk well.  Measure out the water using your dry measuring set and add the teensiest bit of Wilton gel colouring to it before adding the coloured water to the bowl.  Give the mixture a quick mix with a wooden spoon, banging off it off every once and a while.  At this point, the mixture may seem too wet and sticky to make good play dough… Do not fret!  Leave the semi-mixed dough on the counter to cool for 5 or so minutes.  Afterwards, dump the mixture out onto the countertop and knead really well.  You’ll know you’re done when the dough is fully cooled, soft and squishy, and the super smooth.  And if it’s still a little sticky once completely cooled (your climate and even the slightest bit of extra water can change the texture quite significantly), add flour touch by touch and kneading it until the stickiness is gone.

Next, form your dough into balls and roll them in iridescent glitter.  Rolling the glitter on the outside of the dough will give it mega-shine and will make it look extra pretty for gift giving.   

Next up, sprinkle the tops of your dough balls with iridescent stars and gently press them down so they stay in place.  

Because divided GLIS containers aren’t airtight, you’ll want to place your dough into a big clear zip-close bag before gifting it, but I like the get the doughs shaped and in the container first to see how they’ll fit.  

Now because our unicorn was too big to fit in our container (I would have liked to put it in that big compartment on the left), we just tied it to the top of the kit once done, but had we have been able to get our hands on a smaller unicorn, I would have found a spot for it next.

Alright, now onto the loose parts!  These little bits and bobs are surprisingly easy to find at craft stores and dollar stores and make such a great addition to play dough kits.  For our unicorn play dough kit we went with clear acrylic diamonds, pink acrylic hearts, and small acrylic mirror gems, but you can really do anything that you feel fits the theme.  I think little pastel bottle brush trees would have been amazing in this kit, but alas – we live in a small town where these sorts of things aren’t easily found.

To finish off the kit, we added a miniature wooden rolling pin, a mini heart-shaped cookie cutter, a mini star-shaped cookie cutter, and some little pastel-coloured acrylic flowers.  

And that was it!

We carefully placed the play dough balls into a plastic bag and then gently set it back into the container.

To finish off our gift, we tied the kit with some twine, added a handwritten tag and the unicorn, and called it good.  We don’t even bother to wrap our homemade play kits usually.

 

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