50 Fun things to use with play dough

Playdough can be great fun for kids, but it can get boring after a while.  Add some creative tools, and it becomes all new again.

Here's 50 fun things to use with playdough.  Be sure to supervise little ones with choking hazards and join in the fun too!

1. Birthday candles
2. Pasta cutting wheels
3. Toothpicks
4. Marbles
5. Cupcake toppers
6. Beads
7. Small plastic animals
8. Garlic presses
9. Wooden mallets (meat tenderizers)
10. Mini muffin tins
11. Cookie Cutters
12. Rubber stamps (to make impressions)
13. Golf tees
14. Tinker toys
15. Dragon tears (florist marbles)
16. Dried corn and dried beans
17. Play tools (saws, hammers, screwdrivers...)
18. Natural materials like pine cones, flower petals and sticks
19. Candy molds
20. Feathers
21. Tart pans (make tiny pies)
22. Colorful straws cut into short segments
23. Shells
24. Cookie presses
25. Caps and lids
26. Wooden letter blocks (they'll leave impressions)
27. Buttons
28. Spaghetti (raw)
29. Pizza cutters
30. Wavy choppers (for cutting carrots and such)
31. Matchbox cars
32. Googly eyes
33. Duplos and other building blocks
34. Pipe cleaners
35. Nuts and bolts
36. Colorful paper clips and other items from the junk drawer
37. Rubbing plates
38. Empty chocolate boxes
39. Plastic silverware
40. Tea party sets
41. Safety scissors
42. Kitchen utensils like slotted spoons, pastry cutters and whisks to make impressions
43. Glitter
44. Mini umbrella toothpicks
45. Barbies (make playdough outfits)
46. Junk jewelry
47. Empty cans (press a decoration on the outside)
48. Colorful lengths of ribbon and yarn
49. River rocks and colored stones
50. Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head parts

You can easily make your own playdough. 

Here's some of our favorite recipes:

Easy Kool-Aid playdough

Hand Lotion Play Dough

And here's an easy cooked version:

Easy Cooked Playdough

In a saucepan mix:

1 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of salt, 1 tsp. cream of tartar

Add and stir until smooth:

1 cup water, 1 Tbsp oil

Cook over medium heat until nearly playdough is nearly set, stirring most of the time.  It will start to pull away from the side of the pan and form a big lump.

Remove from heat and either put on waxed paper or put in ziplock bags.  Knead when cool enough to touch.

Store in Ziploc bag or an air tight container.  We keep ours in the fridge to extend its shelf life.

Where to find items to use:  In your kitchen drawers, local thrift stores, the junk drawer, the back yard and dollar stores are all good places. 

In Mankato, thrift stores like MRCI and the Salvation Army have loads of fun kitchen items for around a quarter.  We frequently stop at sites like those for items for our playdough drawer, such as garlic presses, cookie molds and interesting plastic kitchen tools.