The secret to my favorite play dough recipe from I heart nap time blog is to not boil the water or do it in a pan, but add the hot water after mixing the dry ingredients. 

I ALWAYS ALWAYS use this recipe, it’s so easy, but my play dough always gets crunchy so fast. I’ll be honest, I’m a total idiot in the kitchen, so I know it’s a user error. But, when I learned this new trick of just microwaving the water — I was SO pleased with the result.

One of you amazing followers shared this tip with me and now our play dough isn’t over cooked. It’s so soft and lasts so much longer.

Ingredients you need

• Cream of Tartar

• Flour

• Salt

• Oil

• Water

• Food Coloring

Instructions

Mix Dry Ingredients together

• 2 c flour

• 3/4 c salt

• 4 tsp cream of tarter

Next, add:

• 2 T oil

• 2 cups boiling hot water (we use microwave + pour slowly)

Mix

Divide and add food coloring (+ optional essential oils)

On this batch, since it was around the holidays, I did holiday peace essential oil in the green and holiday joy essential oil in the red. It made me feel nostalgic for Christmas every time I played along. The yellow was of course lemon, and for blue I used lavender.

Stores for months in airtight container

Things to add to your play-dough play to mix it up each time

• Magnets

• Crayon/Resin letters

• Cookie cutters

• Play-dough toy sets

• Baking tools

• Sequins

• Small world/animal play

• Safari LTD animals

• Sequins

• Cars

• Pipe cleaners

• Beads

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