We recently made the softest, almost silky play dough recipe. My kids love to mold and create with play dough but this would also make a great gift idea. This is the EASIEST play dough recipe because it is no cook play dough. It only uses two ingredients and under 10 minutes to make.
Kids Activities Blog hopes you can use this as a staple “emergency birthday gift” idea. This post contains affiliate links to help you find what you need to make the softest play dough easily!
Play Dough Recipe
After playing with the silky play dough, my hands feels like they came home from a spa treatment… Seriously we LOVE this stuff.
NOTE: This is inedible play-dough and should not be used with kids who are still putting things into their mouths.
So what did we need to create our silky play dough?
- 1 part Hair Conditioner
- 2 parts Corn Starch
That’s it.
We added some food coloring for diversity.
Since not all hair conditioners are the same consistency, you may need to alter the amounts just a bit so it is dough consistency.
Think of this as a mix between playdough and cloud dough. It is light and airy like cloud dough, but molds better as the conditioner helps the cornstarch become more pliable. Another fun thing you can make with cornstarch is Oobleck. We’ve had lots of fun playing with oobleck in the past on Kids Activities Blog.
We have also made goop or silly putty with cornstarch. It is such a fun ingredient to have in your craft cabinet!
Gift Idea
We made our Silky Play Dough as a gift for a friend. We packaged the play dough up with glitter, a couple of play dough toys (rolling pin, cookie cutters, sequins, etc) and cupcake liners. Everything a princess needs for her own magical pretend play.
More Kids Activities
For another play dough recipe and more activities we’ve got you covered. What kid wouldn’t appreciate a gift idea like this! Kids Activities Blog hopes you enjoy all the fun play dough kids activities we have for you:
- Play Dough Recipe and Activity Collection
- Super Shiny Play Dough {Beautiful Gift Idea}
- Create Animals with Dough
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Amazing
Could you advise on how to store these? I put our finished product into a Ziploc bag and on the shelf, and two weeks later it was covered in mildew. Thanks!
Keeping it in the fridge will make it last longer. One of our FB readers reports that she has had hers for over a month, but stores it in the refrigerator.
I just made this was very easy to makewould recommend.
Is ‘play dough’ the same as ‘cold clay/procelain’ – except with a few different ingredients. I am planning to make christmas ornaments, would your recipe work for the same, will it dry hard and stay good to be hung on trees. The recipe that I have come across for ‘cold clay/porcelain’ is : corn starch, glue, baby oil and vinegar – to keep it from molding. Please advise.
I’ve just made this. Smells awesome. Took a while to get it right and even then I’m not satisfied really but my girls just declared me the best mum ever as I made cloud dough this morning too. Word of advice: If you add glitter it goes EVERYWHERE!!!!!
The consistency is killing me. I think our conditioner was a little too cheap. Lol. I’m going to try a little thicker brand. Very goopy at first but my boys thought that was awesome. I have made it twice and I still haven’t perfected it. Maybe next time. The kids love making it. It smells delightful.
Do you put more hair conditioner to make it soft again?
I wonder if you could use coconut oil or a more natural conditioner?
LOL Y ou must not be very old It is used to make gravy It can be found in the baking supplies if you are going to use it for play dogh or for anything really get the cheapest they are all the same
Wow I love it.just made both and I must say it feels so much better on hands. But I will be buying less expensive conditioner for this project. I also added a little flour for it to be less sticky and the kids are having a blast
Not sure it’s an issue of age. More likely nationality. Here in the UK I’ve had local folks asking me to “translate” American recipes. Corn starch is widely used here, but it’s call “corn flour.”
Thanks for the fun activity! I tried it with my kids and featured it on my latest blog post. Love your blog!
As some conditioners are quite expensive, can you use mayonnaise, because I heard that mayonnaise can work the same as conditioners? (Plus, it can save money! LOL!)
I.LOVE.THIS.STUFF!!!!!!
It smells beautifully & keeps my 2 year old son busy for a while. Thank u sooo much!!!
I love this and was cheap! Conditioner was only 1.48 and smelled of coconut! I think I love it as much as kids!!
We have something we call corn flour (also in Spanish masa harina I think). What do you call that stuff?
Try a bit of salt not too sure on how much, but im pretty sure it’ll do the trick.
While this is a well intentioned project; Why would anyone in their right mind use hair conditioner for a child’s toy? The chemicals in hair conditioner are meant to apply to hair and rinse out, some of them are quite harsh and toxic, so much so that I will not allow anyone in my family to use anything but olive oil and/or vegetable glycerin as a conditioner. Little ones playing with this “play dough” are likely to put the stuff in their mouths, rub their faces and eyes, etc.
I love this idea!!! Can someone please tell me what the cupcake holders would be used for in this gift idea? Sorry for the silly question. 🙂
I actually did it, and it came out PERFECTLY! Thank you so much! I can’t wait for my kids to play with it, they are going to love it! 🙂
I’m going to try this to use up freebie conditioners from hotels . But I think Samantha’s idea of coconut scented sounds great .