The rich colors of this DIY gluten-free playdough are achieved using powdered herbs and spices. Cinnamon, cloves, turmeric, spirulina, and hibiscus powders offer rich jewel tones. If you have made gluten-free playdough before you’ll notice that my recipe is different, contains more water, and more oil. The optional essential oils give the play dough a pleasant aroma that increases the play value.
Gluten-free playdough is a must for creative play when commercial playdough contains wheat, petroleum by-products, and chemical dye colors. Because kids are going to taste it. But in our family, it isn’t just my granddaughter who is exposed to the acid dyes and gluten in the childhood toy. Grandpa can’t even be at the table when the playdough comes out. This gluten free playdough recipe solves the problem.
My granddaughter loves playdough. But when grandma and grandpa visit, playdough has to be put away. Grandpa is allergic to wheat and commercial playdough contains wheat. I created this gluten-free playdough recipe in rich Christmas colors so that our granddaughter could enjoy playing with her playdough with Grandpa. The rich jewel tone colors come from natural herbs. Once the herbs have been kneaded into the dough they are stable and won’t dye little hands nor furniture.
The rich colors of this DIY gluten-free playdough are achieved using powdered herbs and spices. Cinnamon, cloves, turmeric, spirulina, and hibiscus powders offer rich jewel tones. If you have made gluten-free playdough before you’ll notice that my recipe is different, contains more water, and more oil. The optional essential oils give the play dough a pleasant aroma that increases the play value.
The essential oils are kid-safe. Keep the playdough out of reach of pets due to its high salt content. Allow about an hour to make the playdough, but plan to leave it rest overnight before using it for creative play. The dough needs to cure overnight so that the moisture levels become uniform and the dough behaves as expected when it is kneaded, rolled, and played with.
Playdough science
The gluten-free flour and tapioca starch in the recipe below, react with the water to form a gelatinous goo that can be molded. But used alone this goo is too sticky to mold and shape. The salt gives the dough structure and firmness as well as acting as a preservative. The acid in the cream of tartar makes the dough stronger and stiffer so it will hold its shape when molded. The olive oil acts as a lubricant, making the dough more pliable and smoothing out the dough’s texture. The oil also helps it not dry out too fast at room temperature. This dough is not suitable for salt dough modeling clay where you want the finished sculpture to dry hard.
The following recipe makes about 28 ounces of playdough +/-. Time commitment: 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
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DIY Gluten Free Playdough with Natural Dye Colors
- Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1.5 hours
- Yield: 28 ounces 1x
Description
The rich colors of this DIY gluten-free playdough are achieved using powdered herbs and spices. Cinnamon, cloves, turmeric, spirulina, and hibiscus powders offer rich jewel tones. If you have made gluten free playdough before you’ll notice that my recipe is different, contains more water, and more oil. The optional essential oils give the play dough a pleasant aroma that increases the play value.
Ingredients
- 1 cup gluten free flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca starch, plus additional for kneading
- 3/4 cups Himalayan pink salt, fine
- 2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 2 to 2 1/2 cups water
- 1/4 cup olive oil, divided
Instructions
- Add gluten-free flour, tapioca starch, salt, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and cream of tartar to a saucepan.
- Pour in 2 cups of water. Whisk to remove lumps.
- Stirring constantly with a silicone spatula, simmer over medium heat until dough thickens and comes together about 5 minutes. The amount of water necessary depends on the brand of gluten-free flour that you are using and your relative humidity.
- If the dough becomes lumpy before it comes together, add an additional 1/2 cup of water to the saucepan and stir with the spatula to fully incorporate.
- Continue stirring until dough comes together. Remove from heat.
- Turn the gluten free playdough out on a piece of parchment paper. Allow it to cool just enough so that you can handle it without getting burned.
- Divide the dough into four portions. Roll each into a ball. Color each portion separately.
Notes
This recipe makes 4 Christmas colored balls of playdough: Gingerbread, Evergreen,Christmas Red, and Golden. To keep the colors pure, wash your hands and clean the parchment paper between colors, as you are kneading. Cure the colors overnight before using them, so that the herbs and spices don’t mar furniture or clothes.
Basic DIY Gluten Free Playdough Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 cup gluten free flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca starch, plus additional for kneading
- 3/4 cups Himalayan pink salt, fine
- 2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 2 to 2 1/2 cups water
- 1/4 cup olive oil, divided
Directions:
- Add gluten-free flour, tapioca starch, salt, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and cream of tartar to a saucepan.
- Pour in 2 cups of water. Whisk to remove lumps.
- Stirring constantly with a silicone spatula, simmer over medium heat until dough thickens and comes together about 5 minutes. The amount of water necessary depends on the brand of gluten-free flour that you are using and your relative humidity.
- If the dough becomes lumpy before it comes together, add an additional 1/2 cup of water to the saucepan and stir with the spatula to fully incorporate.
- Continue stirring until the dough comes together. Remove from heat.
- Turn the gluten free playdough out on a piece of parchment paper. Allow it to cool just enough so that you can handle it without getting burned.
- Divide the dough into four portions. Roll each into a ball. Color each portion separately.
This recipe makes 4 Christmas colored balls of playdough: Gingerbread, Evergreen, Christmas Red, and Golden. To keep the colors pure, wash your hands, and clean the parchment paper between colors, as you are kneading. Cure the colors overnight before using them, so that the herbs and spices don’t mar furniture or clothes.
Homemade playdough with natural colors
Gingerbread playdough
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon, ground
- 1/2 teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 5 drops cinnamon essential oil (optional)
Directions
Take a ball of basic gluten-free playdough, sprinkle the parchment paper with cinnamon and clove spices. Roll the gluten-free playdough around in the spices and begin to knead it into the spice. Continue kneading the dough until it becomes a uniform brown color throughout. Add the olive oil and knead a few more times. If it seems sticky you can add a light dusting of tapioca starch to the parchment paper and pat the dough into it. Then resume kneading and stretching the dough until the brown color is uniform throughout. Add the essential oils. Knead them into the dough until the dough is uniformly colored. Put the dough aside on a plate, while you color the remaining gluten free playdough.
Evergreen playdough
- 1 teaspoon spirulina, powdered
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 7 drops balsamic fir essential oil
Directions
Taking another ball of basic gluten free playdough, sprinkle the spirulina powder onto the parchment paper. Roll the gluten free playdough around in the spirulina powder. Knead the spirulina powder into the playdough. Add the olive oil and continue kneading until the gluten-free playdough has a uniform evergreen color throughout. Add the essential oils. Continue kneading the playdough to evenly distribute the essential oils. Put the dough on the plate, while you color the last two pieces of playdough.
Christmas red playdough
- 2 teaspoons hibiscus flowers, powdered
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 7 drops candy cane essential oil
Directions
Taking another ball of basic gluten free playdough, sprinkle hibiscus power onto parchment paper. Roll the gluten free playdough around in the powdered hibiscus flowers. Knead the hibiscus powder into the playdough. Add the olive oil and continue kneading until the gluten-free playdough has a uniform red color throughout. Add the essential oils. Continue kneading the playdough to evenly distribute the essential oils. Put the dough on the plate, while you color the last piece of playdough.
Golden playdough
- 1 tablespoon turmeric, powdered
- 2 teaspoon olive oil
- 7 drops tangerine essential oil
Directions
Taking the final ball of basic gluten free playdough, sprinkle turmeric spice powder onto the parchment paper. Roll the gluten-free playdough around in the powdered turmeric spice. Knead the turmeric spice into the playdough. Add the olive oil and continue kneading until the gluten-free playdough has a uniform golden color throughout. Add tangerine essential oil. Continue kneading the playdough to evenly distribute the essential oils. Put the dough with the other colored playdough.
Store each color separately in an airtight glass container with a locking lid. This will keep fresh at room temperature for several months. It will dry out like regular play dough if left exposed to air. Keep it covered when not in use.
Playdough is just one of several natural modeling compounds you can make at home. My book, The Beeswax Workshop has directions for natural beeswax modeling compounds colored with natural dyes, as well as natural beeswax crayons, Plasticine, pastels, and oil paints.
Be inspired with more DIY art play recipes from my book The Beeswax Workshop:
Beeswax is easy to work with and a versatile ingredient for art supplies, gardening supplies, hobbies, and crafts. It’s not just for candles, even though DIY candles are wonderful, too. Grab my book The Beeswax Workshop, and learn more about this amazing ingredient.
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