We love homemade play-dough around here! Today Kate from Mini-eco shares a great tutorial on how to use natural dye to color homemade playdough. What a fantastic way to teach kids how many wonderful colors can be found in their environment. If you are looking for fun eco crafts and activities be sure to visit her blog, Mini-eco.  Here is another  how to make playdough tutorial and homemade playdough recipe.

Thanks Kate, for sharing!

Kate writes…..

I‘ve discovered lately that its really easy to dye homemade playdough with natural ingredients. We dyed ours using raspberries, rose petals, beetroot, blueberries, turmeric and oak tree bark. Check out the results in the picture below. Pretty good eh?

As well as creating some great playdough it’s also a lovely way to teach kids that some of the most beautiful dyes can be found in your own back yard.

First of all you need to extract your dye:

Raspberries and strawberries

Put a big handful of raspberries and a cup of water in a pan. Bring to the boil then gently simmer on stove for 20 minutes (until liquid has reduced to about half). Once cooled pour through sieve then follow playdough recipe below

Rose petals

Roughly tear up the petals from about six red roses and put in pan with a cup of water. Bring to the boil then gently simmer on stove for 20 minutes (until liquid has reduced to about half). Once cooled pour through sieve then follow playdough recipe below.

Beetroot

Chop up one medium sized beetroot and put in pan with a cup of water. Bring to the boil then gently simmer on stove for 10 minutes. Once cooled pour through sieve then follow playdough recipe below.

Blueberries

Put a big handful of blueberries and a cup of water in a pan. Bring to the boil then gently simmer on stove for 20 minutes (until liquid has reduced to about half). Once cooled pour through sieve then follow playdough recipe below.

Turmeric

Put approx two teaspoons of turmeric in a pan with a cup of water. Bring to the boil then gently simmer on stove for 20 minutes (until liquid has reduced to about half). Once cooled pour through sieve and follow the recipe below.

Oak tree bark

Put a big handful of oak tree bark in a pan with a cup of water (its best not to take it directly from the tree – if you scout around you will find plenty on the ground). Bring to the boil then gently simmer on stove for 20-30 minutes (until liquid has reduced to about half). Once cooled pour through sieve then follow playdough recipe below.

Playdough recipe

½ cup of flour

½ cup of dyed water

¼ cup of salt

½ tbsp cream of tartar

½ tbsp cooking oil

♥ Combine all the ingredients in a pan (don’t worry about sieving the flour).

♥ Put the pan on a medium to low heat and keep stirring until mixture forms a ball. It will probably stick to the bottom and sides of the pan too!

♥ Allow it to cool a little and knead it on a well floured worktop.

Needless to say, this recipe is for a non-edible playdough. Please also remember that natural dyes stain…so make sure you wear a pinny and try to avoid using your best pots and pans! Lastly, please don’t let your little one/s anywhere near hot or boiling water.

You might also be interested in the this  how to make playdough tutorial and this homemade playdough recipe.


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Comments

  1. Anytime you’re in a situation exactly where feeding on harmful , calorie-dense food has truly finally become a manner of your life , it’s very difficult to imagine oneself as anyone else.

  2. I’m making play dough for Christmas this year. How long does the play dough keep? Does it mold because of fruit water that’s added?

  3. thanks for finally letting us know HOW to get the ‘natural’ colors to use! also, how to make this gluten free? i have a celiac and dairy allergy little 20 mo old girl. Thanks!

  4. This is such a great fun idea, i’m looking forward to doing this with my students. Beautiful colors too!

  5. I love the beautiful colors, and think I can maybe use them to make cookie icing for holiday baking… We are unable to use commercial food colors, because our daughter is allergic to food coloring (i.e. yellow #5.)

    Thanks!

  6. does it stain once it’s cooked? ie if i use it on white tables, will it leave colour on the tables? or the kids hands?
    i do love the idea though!

  7. Looks good enough to eat! Which, thinking about it, might be a problem with my nephew… Supervised play only I think.

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