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Hi, friends!
Hope you’re having an excellent day so far! Today I wanted to pop in to share one of our favorite at home Play Dough recipes! This one is easy, and it incorporates the soothing smell of lavender so it’s a great calming tool! I don’t know about you, but sometimes my kiddos have a hard time winding down after a busy day, I’ve found that lavender is a great tool to help them relax and unwind, and they’ve really been into using play dough lately, so I put the two together and created a calming play dough that you can make at home! Back in 2013 I shared Soothing Lavender and Chamomile Play Dough (man, 2013 seems like SO long ago now), so if you want a blast from the past – check out that post too! 🙂
You’ll Need:
– 4 Cups of flour
– 3 TBS Alum (you can grab it on amazon here)
– 3/4 Cups Salt
– 6 TBS Vegetable Oil
– Three Cups Water
– 1 Cup Baby Lotion (we used this kind)
– 40 Drops Food Coloring (we used blue)
– 15 drops Lavender Essential Oil (We order ours from here)
Directions
- Mix all ingredients in a large bowl
- Pour into a large pot
- Heat on Medium and stir until mixture hardens – when it gets a rough dough-like consistency, remove from heat.
- Let cool completely
- Knead well
- Store in an air-tight container (These Ziplock bags work great, too)
And because I’m a visual learner and love to see “in the process” photos, here are some to guide you! I apologize for the photo quality of these, I made this after the boys had gone to bed – so the lighting isn’t great. But, I wanted to give you an idea of the consistency you’re aiming for 😉
And here’s what it looks like after it’s kneaded and cooled – SO pretty, right? I love the teal color that was achieved using the blue food coloring. You could definitely go with purple to fit the lavender theme, but my boys just LOVE blue so I tailored it to fit them – that’s the great thing about making it yourself! 🙂
The dough will last in your airtight container for 3-4 weeks! So go ahead and try it out, our plan is to make a new batch every month in a different color with a different scent!
I love making playdough at home, and will try this recipe. Some of the recipes have been too gritty (and I’m pretty accurate at measuring). FYI – this sounds amazing for kids that have sensory processing issues, since it’s tactile AND aromatic.
Hi Jacqui – Yes, my son is on the Autism spectrum so this is a great calming tool for him! I promise if you make this exactly – it won’t be gritty! It’s nice and smooth – I think a huge reason is because we add lotion to ours!
Play dough is always such a fun activity and making it would be so much cheaper than buying it. I love the addition of lavender for a calming effect. This would help kids calm down both because of the scent and because play doh is very relaxing.
Oooh fun! I definitely need to make this for my little guy! He gets pretty wild in the evenings. I’m always dropping lavender oil in his bath or rubbing a few drops on his pajamas at night.
I have always wanted to make homemade play dough but I just haven’t yet. I know my girls would love it especially if it’s scented! Your recipe seems simple enough. Do you know if I could substitute gluten free flour and have the same result?
My son has meltdowns, partly because he’s a 3 year old and party because he has sensory sensitivities. He loves playdough, so this is the perfect solution to a meltdown. Give him something he enjoys doing while adding lavendar! Great idea, mom!
Wow, this is a great DIY toy for kids. I never thought of adding drops of essential oils to dough for children to play with. Does kneading take a lot of time and effort, or can kids even do this by themselves?
I’ve never made my own playdough for my son but I’d love to give it a go. I love the addition of lavender oil to this too, it’s nice for the little ones to have something calming and sensory to play with too. Great DIY play idea, thank you.
I would have never thought to add an essential oil to play dough but it totally makes sense especially for something like a sensory activity. Thanks for sharing such a great idea!