Soft, Squishy Gluten Free Play Dough

12 / 5 / 1912 / 5 / 19

Oh my goodness, guys. If I could only count the number of times I’ve been asked lately, “Do you have a gluten free play dough recipe??” I’ve lost track. I actually do have a tried, tested, and true gluten free play dough recipe – my baby play dough recipe! But it’s not a traditional play dough you’d keep on your shelf for days on end, so naturally I had to give creating one a try. Now here’s the thing… We’re not gluten free, nor do we have anyone in our day-to-day that’s gluten free, so I’ve never had to learn to properly use gluten free flours. That being said, I used our usual go-to play dough recipe as a jumping off point and I’m actually very pleased with how this gluten free version turned out. It’s soft, it’s squishy, it’s sort of heavy like my usual play dough is, and I actually really like it. And I’m a bit picky.

Now a few things to know…

I’ve only tested this recipe with this one particular flour – Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose Baking Flour (CAN). You can certainly trying using a different brand / type of gluten free flour, but I can’t guarantee it’ll work. I did try creating a recipe with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour, but I liked the All-Purpose Baking Flour better for this purpose.

With all of the gluten free play dough recipes I tested, I noticed that the finished doughs had a tiny bit of surface stickiness that our traditional play dough just doesn’t have. It’s not a ton of stickiness and it doesn’t make the dough any less fun to play with, but a couple of things to note… First off, when making and playing with this dough, make sure that your hands and work surface are completely dry. Just a tiny bit of extra moisture can add to that stickiness. Secondly, if you’re finding your dough a little too sticky at any point, add a little bit of cornstarch (probably no more than a teaspoon at a time) to your hands, your work surface, and/or the surface of your dough.

Lastly, I’m not quite sure how this dough will last long term just yet. While our regular play dough recipe lasts for months on end, I only made the dough a few days ago, so it’s too early to tell just yet. So far so good, though. I just checked on it and it’s as though we just made it. You’ll want to store this dough just as you would our regular play dough – in an air-tight bag or container at room temperature away from heat sources (so no top of the fridge).

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Okay, disclaimers out of the way… Let’s get on with it, shall we? Here’s what you’ll need:

Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose Baking Flour (CAN)

table salt

cream of tartar (CAN)

vegetable oil

glycerine (CAN)

liquid food colouring (CAN)

boiling water

cornstarch

And this is what your finished dough will look like… Pretty, right?

We went for soft, pastel-y colours this time around and only used a tiny bit of food dye, but if vibrant colours are what you’re after, you can do that too. Just follow the instructions in my recipe at the bottom of this post carefully.

One other thing to note? This dough does have a mild “smell” to it… Most likely thanks to the fact that the gluten free flour contains bean flours, I’m guessing. It’s not terrible and I’m sure you could probably add a tiny bit of extract or kiddo-friendly essential oil to eliminate it, but we didn’t and it doesn’t bother us.

Okay, here’s the dough in action. I love seeing these kind of pictures because I feel like they give me good insight into the texture of the dough (holy #playdoughnerd alert). Anyways, it squishes…

It cuts…

And it’s really soft.

Here’s the recipe…

Soft & Squishy Gluten Free Play Dough

1 cup of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose Baking Flour | CAN (packed down into the measuring cup as much as possible)
1/4 cup of table salt
1 tablespoon of cream of tartar
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 tablespoon of glycerine

a couple of drops of liquid food colouring
1/2 cup of boiling water (measured in a dry measuring cup – as in the same type you’d measure flour in)

2(+) tablespoons of cornstarch

Measure out the flour, salt, cream of tartar, vegetable oil, and glycerine into a large mixing bowl. Give the mixture a really good whisk.

Add your food colouring to the measuring cup you’ll use to measure your water in. Top the cup up with boiling water. (By adding the food colouring to the water measurement, you prevent adding too much liquid to your play dough – especially in cases where you’re adding a good amount of dye to achieve a more vibrant play dough colour.)

Pour the coloured water into your dry mixture and mix it super well with a wooden spoon, banging it off every once and a while. You want to incorporate all of the dry mixture into the dough here, which may take a little bit of effort. You may feel like your dough seems too dry or too wet to become a good play dough here, but don’t worry – trust the process. :)

Leave your semi-mixed dough on the counter to cool for 5 or so minutes.

Afterwards, dump the mixture out onto the countertop and knead it really well. Probably a picky #playdoughnerd thing, but we have granite counter tops and I much prefer kneading our play dough on a wooden butcher block or cutting board. At this point your dough will feel too sticky, but not to worry. (I feel like the wooden work surface helps cut the stickiness a little bit, which is part of why I find it helpful.)

Once your dough is well-kneaded and uniform, remove any dough from your hands, give your hands a good wash, and dry them completely.

Now measure out your 2 tablespoons of cornstarch either onto your work surface or directly onto your dough, and knead some more. You want your play dough to eat this extra cornstarch up. This should take care of that stickiness, but add an additional tablespoon if you feel like you need it (we tested this recipe 5+ times and 2 was our magic number each time).

And that’s it! You’ve got gluten free play dough!!

When it’s not in use, keep it in an air-tight container or bag at room temperature (away from heat sources) and hopefully it’ll last a long time.

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Unicorn Play Dough Kit

11 / 24 / 18

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)

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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Witch’s Brew Play Dough Kit

10 / 15 / 1810 / 19 / 18

Oh how I love putting together play dough kits! After years and years of them being one of our play staples {as well as our go-to homemade gift}, Miss G sort of moved onto really loving other types of play around the time Sam was born {#sadday}. Then when Sam was finally ready for it, we stuck with our taste-safe baby play dough and our go-to no-cook play dough for a long while before moving onto full-on play dough kits with loads of fun loose parts included, so it’s been a minute. Recently we’ve done a really awesome Little Blue Truck play dough kit {which I’ll be sure to share soon} as well as an autumn spice dough with whole spices, but this witch’s brew play dough kit is our newest kit and it’s been oh so much fun.

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To make it, I started out by making three separate batches of our go-to super squishy, no-cook play dough. This time around, I skipped the Kool-Aid and Frosting Creation packs and simply made unscented doughs in vibrant Halloween-inspired colours using my favourite Wilton gel colourings.

Then it was off to our Halloween bin downstairs to find some fun loose parts to add to our kit. Here’s what Sam and I found {all purchased at Dollarama in previous years}… Some small plastic rats, mini spiders, flies, and ants, some purple bats, and some monster googly eyes.

Of course a play dough kit means a GLIS divided container from Ikea, so we dug one of those out too. {Seriously one of my very favourite things to buy at Ikea. So much so that I always keep a few extras on hand for gifts and fun projects.}

Alright, so here’s how we organized our kit! Our freshly made play dough in one of the big spots {I’d first place this in a big zip-close bag if giving the kit as a gift or storing it for any amount of time as the containers aren’t air-tight}…

Our little creepy loose parts in the small slots in the front…

And some mini ‘cauldrons’ {aka apple sauce containers} and some play kitchen utensils for stirring the brew along the side.

We also tucked our rats in with the cauldrons and utensils as that’s where we had space.

Here’s the finished kit! Wouldn’t this make a lovely gift when paired with a copy of Room on the Broom? Especially for a kiddos with a birthday or party around Halloween? I also love the idea of making these and gifting them to your child’s preschool or Kindergarten class… I mean which teacher wouldn’t appreciate a ready-made sensory activity for her munchkins to enjoy??

The best thing about play dough kits like these? ANYTHING GOES.

Miss G opted to use one of the big cauldrons we use for Halloween goodies for her witches brew…

And Sam stacked his brew up nice and high and layered creepy crawlies in between.

When they were done, the kiddos removed the little bits and bobs from the play dough, sorted them back into the container {awesome sorting practice for kiddos Sam’s age}, and I popped the play dough into a zip-close bag before putting it back into our divided container and closing it up.

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Autumn Spice Play Dough with Whole Spices

9 / 20 / 189 / 20 / 18

Welp, the first official day of fall is nearly here and I’m doing my best to embrace it despite the fact that the arrival of fall means we’re that much closer to another loonnnnng winter in our small town. A loonnnng winter in our small town that nearly did me in last year. Now if it were to stay fall for a few months and we got to soak in that crisp fall air mixed with little bursts of sun, the beautiful autumn colours, and sweater weather for a while before transitioning into the snow, freezing cold, parkas, and permanently feeling like a block of ice, I’d totally be down for that. Come on Mother Nature, work with me here! {Pleeeaaase.}

I usually switch up our play dough and play dough kits each season despite the fact that our go-to homemade play dough can last even longer than that {our black, sparkly play dough that was part of our tinker play dough activity is still going strong!}, so this week Sam and I whipped up the most delicious smelling autumn spice play dough.

It’s just our basic no-cook play dough recipe {made without food colouring or flavour packets} with a few of our favourite fall spices added to it, and let me tell you – it smells divine! {We chose to use cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, but if we would have had allspice on hand, I would have added that too!}

To make it, we measure out our dry ingredients plus our vegetable oil and glycerine into a large bowl.

Then we whisk it up really well.

Next, I add the boiling water and immediately mix it {quite vigorously} to get the texture as uniform as possible. As soon as it’s cool enough to handle, I get my hands in there, bring it all together in a ball…

And then dump it out onto a clean, dry countertop.

The one question I always get asked about our play dough is how we get such a smooth texture, and it’s all about the kneading! I knead our play dough for probably a solid 2 or 3 minutes, or until it’s pretty much cool. I know that there’s a proper way to knead doughs, but when it comes to our play dough recipe, I start with it all in a mass close to me…

Then I push it away from me while using a decent amount of pressure to flatten it right out. Then I pull it back and repeat. (Many, many times.) I find that this method works well when the dough is still a little sticky {our recipe tends to feel a little wet until completely cool} and it really works to get rid of any little lumps an bumps that might be hiding in the dough. By the time it’s completely cool, the dough should be smooth as can be and should no longer be sticky.

Can you tell how smooth it is?

I’m pretty sure we’ve made some version of this play dough every fall since Miss G was one or two years old, and I love pairing it with natural loose parts. We often go out on a nature walk and collect conkers, acorns, pinecones, and pretty leaves to pair it with, but another favourite over the years has been whole spices and that’s what we decided to go with this time around.

Sam and I popped by our local bulk store and picked up some cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, whole allspice, whole nutmeg, some anise stars, and some whole cloves – all of which smell amazing and have interesting shapes and textures. Then I popped everything into one of my favourite divided trays {I got this one in Kuwait at City Star in Egaila} and set it out on the table with a couple of placemats for the kids to discover after school.

I love having some sort of invitation to play or create out on the table in the afternoons… It’s always something that is open-ended and requires very little / no adult help, which means that they can just dive in and play or create independently, which I think is good for all of us, but especially Grae.

After a long day at school, I really find that she just needs some time to unwind and decompress… Some time when there’s nothing expected of her and nothing she has to do on a timeline – and creating or reading seem to be two really good options for her.

I often pick a chilled out, calming playlist on Spotify and play that too, which really sets the mood for some low-key, focused play.

Of course with play dough and loose parts, there’s really no end goal. Miss G usually works on some sort of careful creation…

While sam loves to burry and poke and dig and hide.

Both of which are equally valuable, important ways to play.

Here’s our autumn spice play dough recipe…

Autumn Spice Play Dough

1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup of table salt
1 tablespoon of cream of tartar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 teaspoon of ground cloves

2 tablespoons 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)

Place all of the ingredients, save the boiling water, in a bowl and whisk well. Measure the water using your dry measuring set and add it 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! Once the dough has cooled just a little, use your hands to carefully bring it into and ball and then dump it out onto the countertop and knead really well. You’ll know you’re done when the dough is fully cooled, soft and squishy, and no longer sticky

Enjoy!

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Tinker Play Dough

1 / 14 / 181 / 17 / 18

Welp, Miss G went back to school yesterday and we’re officially missing her already. {Not to mention the slow mornings, pajama days, and general lack of a schedule we had over the break.} I told myself that I’d sign Sam and I up for some fun things come January, but honestly, I just haven’t done it yet… Besides the fact that Vernon isn’t overflowing with options and our school drop-off / midday nap / school pick-up routine really only allows for a class or program between the hours of 9 and 11 am, I know that any play-based program with shared toys will most likely mean sickness after sickness for Sam because a) cold and flu season and b) preemie immune systems suck. And he’s still recovering from his post-Christmas sickness! So for now, we’re sticking with our snowy walks, coffee shop visits here and there, and a whole lot of play at home.

Play Dough Fairy Gardens

3 / 15 / 173 / 19 / 17

I try really hard not to be that person who is constantly complaining about the weather {because who are we kidding – we have it so good here in Vancouver}, but let me tell you… I am SO ready for spring. Not that cold, grey, rainy everyday version of spring either. I’m ready for full-on sunshiny spring with blossoming trees, the buzzing of bees, warm temperatures, and rainy days only here and there. I’ve been willing it to come our way for weeks if I’m being honest. And with all of that wishful thinking, I was reminded of the amazing play dough fairy gardens Miss G and I did last year.

Baby Play Dough

1 / 29 / 172 / 1 / 17

If you know me well, you know that my love for play dough runs deep. I’ve loved it for ages… It was a total lifesaver while babysitting and nannying as a teenager and university student, it was a staple in my Kindergarten classrooms when teaching, and it’s always out and available in our house now that I’m a mama. Over the years, Miss G and I have created some pretty amazing recipes… Amazing sand dough, gorgeous starry galaxy dough, lemony dough made with real lemon zest, chai tea latte dough, super soft chocolate dough, celebration dough full of foil glitter, the most fragrant ever gingerbread dough, vanilla mint dough {one of my favourite ever scent combos}, pumpkin spice dough made with real pumpkin… The list could go on.

Snowman Play Dough Kit

1 / 18 / 172 / 1 / 17

Miss G and I had so much fun with our gingerbread people and christmas tree play dough kits over the holidays that I figured we’d better sneak one more winter themed kit in before spring arrives. This one, a snowman play dough kit, has become a yearly occurence in our house. We’ve even made mini build a snowman play dough kits to gift our friends with in the past.

Play Dough Apple Tree Life Cycle

10 / 7 / 1610 / 17 / 16

If you know us well, you know we loooove play dough. We almost always have 3 or 4 play dough kits on hand and for the past several years, they’ve been something Miss G has regularly taken out and played with. That being said, we’ve sort of been on a play dough break recently… Miss G has other things she’s super passionate about at the moment {mainly ‘inventing’ and reading – always reading} and with her being in school full days this year, I honestly just find that there’s not a lot of extra time in our days {*insert sad face here*}. That being said, we’ve recently been all about apples and apple trees, and when Miss G asked about when the different stages of an apple tree’s life cycle occur, I figured it would be fun to explore the different seasons with some play dough and simple play dough mats.

Butterfly World Play Dough Kit

4 / 13 / 164 / 20 / 16

Butterfly World Play Dough Kit | Mama Papa Bubba

With spring now in full force, it was time for a new addition to our ongoing play dough kit collection. Though my first thought was to put together a spring garden set, we’ve made several very similar kits in the past and our garden set got a ton of play last spring, so I figured we’d switch it up this time around.

St. Patrick’s Day Play Dough Kit

2 / 25 / 163 / 4 / 16

It’s been a long while since we put together our last play dough kit, so this week I finally made time to create a new one! And since I have a very hard time resisting anything rainbow, this time around we went with a St. Patrick’s Day play dough kit.

Star Wars Play Dough Kit

10 / 3 / 1510 / 6 / 15

Admittedly, neither Brad nor I are huge Star Wars fans… But Miss G? Well she’s recently become one thanks to this Cosmic Kids Yoga video. {Hah!} So when she heard that the birthday party we’d been invited to this weekend was Star Wars-themed, she was absolutely thrilled. Of course, when I asked what she’d like to get the birthday boy as a gift, she threw out ‘A STAR WARS PLAY DOUGH KIT!!!’ almost immediately {sorry friends, I promise to get her onto a non-play dough gift giving kick very soon} and then I realized how over my head I was…

Fall Play Dough Kit

9 / 26 / 159 / 27 / 15

As usual in our house, a new season means new play dough kits, and what better way to start off fall than with a fall-themed play dough kit?! Grae and I have been collecting little odd and ends for this one for the last couple of weeks, so we were really excited to finally put it all together and play with it this morning… {Fyi, It smells amaaaazing!}

Princess Play Dough Kit

9 / 13 / 159 / 14 / 15

Today was Miss G’s first birthday party back in Canada and she was thrilled that a) it meant she got to finally see one of the friends she’s missed terribly while away, b) that it was princess-themed and involved art, and c) that it gave us the perfect excuse to create a ‘princessy’ gift.

Canadian Wilderness Play Dough Set

6 / 30 / 157 / 16 / 15

It goes without saying that being back in Canada means a need for some new play dough kits! {Obviously.} And since we’ve been in the land of beige for the last 10 months, what better way to celebrate being back in Canada than with a colourful Canadian wilderness play dough set?