Homemade Playdough Comparison

My 4-year old "volunteered" me to make playdough for her preschool class. I probably could have said no, but I went ahead and scheduled it into my calendar.

Then I promptly forgot about it.

Sunday afternoon, when the alarm sounded and I realized it was time to fulfill this obligation, I didn't stop to consider if I even had the ingredients on hand.

And that's where things got interesting.

Original Recipe

1/2 cup salt
1 cup flour
2 TBSP cream of tartar
1 cup water
1 TBSP oil
food coloring

I had exactly enough vegetable oil and cream of tartar to make 1 batch.

But that single batch was, um, a quarter of what I'd promised to bring.

So, in a rush (because the baby was sleeping and I wanted to get done during her nap), I got online and searched for "homemade playdough without tartar." There was more than one to choose from.

Non-tartar Recipe

1/4 cup salt
1 cup flour
3 tsp white vinegar
1 cup water
1 TBSP oil
food coloring

Source: ToTheMoonAndBackBlog.net

The Results

Pros:
-Both recipes resulted in good color and a smooth texture.
-Both recipes are edible and nontoxic.

Cons:
-The non-tartar recipe is sticky after being in a bag. Super sticky. It ended up being a difficult playdough for a preschool class.

The blue playdough was made with the original recipe. The red, pink, and purple with the non-tartar recipe. I used AmeriColor food dye for all of them. As a special note, put the dye in the batch before cooking. It's easier to mix into a liquid than once it "doughs."

I recommend...

...making the original recipe for use by preschoolers. My daughter's teachers agree the degree of stickiness of the non-tartar recipe was too much.

If you try out the recipes, I'd love to hear which one worked best for you and why. I certainly liked that non-tartar recipe but it wasn't right for my situation. However not having to buy cream of tartar for this one thing would be nice!

Another post about Playdough -- my kids seriously to love it.