Gluten-free Playdough recipe

One of my favorite go-to’s when the kids don’t know what to do with themselves is my gluten-free playdough recipe or “salt dough” as we call it. The salt keeps the dough fresh in an airtight bag for a couple months at least, so it’s ready to go. Ashley will press the dough for a long time, enjoying the sensory aspect of it, without trying to make anything. Zoe and Ginger have specific goals about what they want to create. Cookie cutters are easy and we have a million of them, but recently I got them these wooden rollers and stamps to add to their playing, and they have been a huge hit.

Roller handles, toys, and ordinary objects are fun to press into the dough to make impressions or holes. Ginger loves the impression made by the end of a marker.

“Strings” made with the roller on the right can be seen on the “donut” and between the donut and the roller.

Salt dough is heavy, so first I press it out for them with my palms. Ginger has been cutting out the stamp shapes that she makes with a butter knife and then building on that. She stacks the cut stamps for a multilayer cake, or leaves them individually, calling them cookies, cupcakes, and pizza, depending on how tall they are, or what she adds to them. By rolling the dough out thin with these rollers you can get “strings” similar to an extruder, but much less perfect I’m sure. We don’t know what we might be missing by having an extruder, so we don’t mind. (Also, I’m not sure an extruder would work with this dough. Do you know?)

Ginger likes to cut the “strings” and use them to decorate her salt dough pizza, cookies, and more. I really need to get her a reusable plastic knife, not because she isn’t able to use the butter knife, but because the dough isn’t good for the steel. It leaves marks if I don’t wash it off soon enough.

“Cookies” that have been baked, being used at her play kitchen.

When the kids make a piece that they want to keep, I bake it in the toaster oven at 200F until it’s completely dry. After they’re baked they can paint them or leave them unpainted. Just make sure to keep it away from your pets! See my first salt dough post HERE.

gluten-free playdough recipe

gluten-free, salt dough

NOTE: salt dough is lethal to pets. be very careful!

1 and 1/4 cups of water
1 cup of salt
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 cup of cornstarch (I’ve also use tapioca, but it doesn’t work as well as cornstarch)

1. Bring the water to a boil. Add the salt and stir for about a minute to partially dissolve the salt. (Most of the salt won’t dissolve).
2. Turn off the heat and stir the coconut oil into the salt and hot water mixture. Set aside.
3. Put the cornstarch in a mixing bowl, and add the salt water mixture (it must still be very hot in order for the dough to work).
4. Stir the mixture carefully (it will be hot).
5. Let the dough cool until you can touch it with your hands.
6. Knead the dough, and then it’s ready for playing!
7. Store in an airtight bag.
8. When the dough has been used for a while and is crumbly, add a splash of water and work it in with your hands. I work in a splash of water before every use.

♥, Kelly