Glitter Play Dough

When my oldest daughter was just a toddler, my mother-in-law gave me this recipe for play dough. Thanks to Pinterest the play dough sparkles with the addition of glitter.

My daughter will be turning 33 years old soon. I now make the play dough for her children. This recipe has stood the test of time and many little hands shaping and forming dough into whatever their imagination creates.

Emi and Cosette will help me demonstrate how to make glitter play dough. It’s that easy.

You will need to following:

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup salt
1/2 cup cream of tartar
4 cups water
1/4 cup oil
food coloring
colored glitter

In a large heavy pan mix the flour, salt,

and cream of tartar. That’s a lot of cream of tartar and it can be expensive. A great source for cream of tartar is from San Francisco Herb Co. A pound of cream of tartar sells for $5.85.

Whisk together.

Add the four cups water.

Add 1/4 cup oil. I’m using canola oil because that’s what I have.

Whisk the ingredients until smooth and free of lumps.

Don’t worry if there are a few remaining lumps. They will go away. Trust me.

Place the pan over medium heat and cook the mixture.

Stir constantly while cooking. You will notice that the mixture will begin to thicken and it will start to look really lumpy. Don’t fret. Just keep on stirring.

Keep cooking and stirring.

Once the mixture is extremely thick, remove from the heat.

Pinch a piece of the dough. You will notice that the dough will be soft and pliable.

Stir the dough a few times once removed from the heat. You will notice that the lumps will begin to disappear or will be gone completely.

Turn the dough out onto a non-stick mat or cutting board. The dough is very warm at this point. Begin to knead the dough. I love how the dough feels. It’s hot and soft. It’s a fabulous dough. Because of the oil, it doesn’t stick to your hands.

This is a great mat. I purchased it at Ikea last year. It’s very large and the kids use it for their play dough or painting pictures for me to post on my refrigerator.

I am dividing the dough into 6 pieces.

This way we can make 6 different colors of play dough.

Emi will demonstrate how to mix the colors into the dough.

I’m adding gel food color to Emi’s dough.

Pink, of course.

Emi is folding the dough over the food color and will begin to knead the color into the dough.

Fold the dough over itself several times to incorporate the color.

Yes Emi eventually gets the food color all over her hands.

Not to worry. It’s an amazing thing. As Emi continues to work the play dough, the food color on her hands begins to disappear.

Now Emi is taking our fabulous Martha Stewart glitter stars and hearts and sprinkling them onto her dough.

Repeat the folding and kneading motion to the dough to incorporate the glitter into the dough.

Now it sparkles.

Just like Emi, who is trying to hide the pink dye on her hands.

Really is comes off as she plays with the dough.

This is Cosette. She is putting her pink and blue glitter on her purple play dough.

Cosette just sculpted a little girl jumping on a trampoline.

You knew that. Right?

Just for kicks and giggles, we decided to add a little aroma to our play dough.

I reminded the girls that this was NOT flavoring, just for smell. I would hope it doesn’t smell good enough to eat.

We’re adding a little Orange Vanilla scent to the yellow.

I added Lavender to the pink in hopes that it will calm the girls down enough to take a nap.

Nope.

This particular glitter was a favorite for the girls to add. I think we added it to every color. It’s more like a fine sparkling sand than a coarse glitter. The pink actually looked great in every color, especially the black.

We used the entire bottle.

I made 1 1/2 batches of the play dough (yes, you can half the recipe easily) for 9 balls of play dough that weigh about 10.5 ounces each.

What I love about this play dough is how soft and pliable it is. Such fun and bright colors.

This morning I gave hugs and kisses good-bye to Emi, Luke and Cosette. They began their journey to their new home in Denver, Colorado. We packed the play dough into plastic bags and tucked it into their filled mini van. One last little memento from Grandma.

Note: Cosette doesn’t have play dough on her cheek. She has pop rocks on her cheek. I poured the pop rocks into a bowl and gave her a spoon to eat them with. That makes me a good grandma…right?

‘Stauching with Grandma.

I can’t tell you how my heart broke as the tail lights of that white mini van drove away. I walked back into my house and put away the high chair, picked up Cheerio’s, wiped off finger prints and washed sippy cups.

The candy jars are completely empty. The cats have come out from their hiding places. The house is quiet.

All I have left is the urine from an 8 year old boy with a bad aim. I followed it from the toilet bowl to the back of the toilet tank. From the toilet tank to the wall behind it. From the wall up to… the MIRROR???

LUKE!!!!!!!

Look out Colorado. These three little kids are going to rock your world just like they have rocked mine.

Luke, Emi, Cosette and Lettie Jane YOU ROCK!!

3.58 from 14 votes