Best No Cook Playdough Recipe

Learn how to make the best no cook playdough recipe version! In this play dough tutorial you won’t have to worry about a hot stove or your child getting burned. This is a recipe a child can make with you!

When it comes to making playdough, I’m a bit of a snob. I want my homemade playdough to be vibrant, soft, and smooth!

No Cook Playdough Recipe

We have used this homemade playdough recipe so many times over the years as seen in our dough tutorials: cooked playdough recipe. One thing that I don’t like about those recipes is that they require the use of boiling water or they must be cooked on the stove.

When kids are making play dough, I prefer them to use no cook playdough recipe. But the trouble is, a lot of times these alternative “no-cook” playdough recipes still require boiling water. Instead of cooking on the stove, they use boiling water to cook the play dough off of the stove, but the dough is still intensely hot!

That doesn’t work for little fingers who want to make their own dough!

I needed a play dough that was a true heatless playdough recipe, and after a bit of experimenting, I’ve found a recipe that works for us!

This heatless playdough recipe is similar enough to traditional playdough that it satisfies my kids, and my particualr playdough needs at the same time. And best of all, kids can make it alone!

Ingredients per color: 

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• 1 tablespoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 a cup of liquid dish soap
• 1 cup of flour
• Food coloring

No Cook Play Dough Recipe

In a small bowl, mix your ingredients together. We found it easiest to mix the food coloring with the dish soap before adding it to the flour and cream of tarter.

Mix the dry and wet ingredients. A dough ball will start to form.

If your dough is too stiff, you can add a bit more dish soap to relax the dough.

If the dough is too runny, you can add a bit more flour to the mixture.

Knead the dough for several minutes to completely mix the soap and flour, which will give your play dough a texture that is quite similar to cooked play dough recipes!

The biggest difference between this no cook playdough recipe version and a cooked version is that the flour stays a bit stiff.

Instead of having a creamy texture, the playdough remains a little rough and is prone to breaking a little more than cooked playdough recipes.

However, it still rolls, molds, shapes, and squeezes just like regular dough!

And the best part is, it smells great, too!

Kids will be delighted that they can make no cook play dough all on their own.

If you want a true no cook playdough recipe, you can’t beat this one!

Check out the Koolaid Play Dough recipe and our cooked playdough recipe too!