Homemade Gingerbread Play Dough Recipe ~ It smells amazing!
I love all the smells associated Christmas…fresh pine trees, sugar cookies baking, hot apple cider, but my favorite Christmas smell is…Gingerbread. The smell of gingerbread baking holds sweet childhood memories, making our simple homemade play dough recipe one of our favorite Christmas activities.
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I have made Gingerbread play dough every Christmas for the past few years. The kids LOVE it, and it smells amazing! My inspiration came from this simple gingerbread recipe. As soon as I saw this, I knew it would be a hit. I mean really, can you go wrong by combining play dough with Gingerbread men?
I love the rich brown color, the smell is amazing, and there is no need for food coloring. Yep, just like gingerbread. Make sure to remind your kiddos that even though it smells wonderful, it is not meant for eating.
The kids set up their cookie shop and went straight to work. Cutting, rolling, creating wonderful little gingerbread men.
Gingerbread is a Christmas staple in our house. We have made simple gingerbread ornaments, and even hosted a gingerbread birthday party. So naturally, we love making gingerbread play dough.
We also used this simple Gingerbread recipe to set up our invitation to create Playdough Reindeer. The kids loved this simple activity!
I recently found an adorable set of girl and boy gingerbread cookie cutters. The kids had so much fun creating a family of little gingerbread cutouts.
Homemade playdough usually leaves my hands feeling salty and dry. So I started playing with the salt to flour ratio and I love the soft texture of this simple salt reduced playdough recipe.
Gingerbread Man Play Dough Ingredients:
This recipe is easy to make, and very similar to store bought Play Doh.
- 1 cup Flour
- 1/4 cup Salt
- 2 tsp Cream of Tartar
- 1 cup Water
- 1 1/2 or 2 TBSP Vegetable Oil ~ I have used both measurements successfully and love how soft it makes the dough feel.
- 1 – 2 tsp ground Cinnamon
- 1- 2 tsp ground Ginger
- 1 tsp ground Nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground Cloves
Feel free to play with the quantity of spices that you add. We use different amounts each time, and they all smell amazing.
Easy Play Dough Directions:
- Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan ~ I like to mix the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients separately.
- Stir until your mixture resembles cake batter. It may still have a few lumps in it at this point.
- Cook slowly over medium heat, stirring constantly.
- It shouldn’t take too long for the mixture to thicken…continue stirring.
- Once the mixture forms one large “clump” (I’m sure that is the technical term) you are good to go. Simply remove the dough from the heat, and knead by hand until smooth.
Caution…let cool before you let little fingers touch it. It will be very hot at this point.
This recipe makes about 2 cups of Gingerbread Play Dough.
