This Christmas Playdough is peppermint-scented playdough with vibrant sugar-cane Christmas color that kids love. Bonus, this playdough without salt is safe for kids’ hands and super soft.
Christmas playdough is simply playdough with Christmas color and scent. Here we choose to share a two-color peppermint-scented playdough recipe that reminds us of Christmas sugar-canes, a kid favorite candy on the holiday season.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Flour – it must be flour with gluten. All-purpose flour is the best.
- Cream of tartar – this keeps the playdough for ages and is super soft.
- Vegetable oil – use a light color oil like canola oil for best playdough color and no oil smell. Some oils are flavorsome, like olive oil, and cover the lovely peppermint flavor of this Christmas playdough.
- Water
- Food coloring – I used red food coloring, but green food coloring is a great Christmas color that matches the peppermint scent.
- Peppermint essential oils or natural extract.
- Poster paint – only for the white color.
How to Make Christmas Playdough
For this playdough recipe, you need a few ingredients and a non-stick saucepan to cook the playdough. Make sure you use a non-stick saucepan, or it sticks to the saucepan, and the playdough is difficult to form.
- First, combine the dry ingredients and mix well to combine in a non-stick saucepan. Set aside.
- In a measuring cup, add the peppermint extract, food coloring you choose and top up with tap water until it reaches one cup.
- Pour onto a mixing bowl, add oil and whisk with a fork to dissolve the food coloring, oil and water evenly. If you are making the white playdough recipe, replace the food coloring with paint.
- Now, pour the wet ingredients onto the dry ingredients along with vegetable oil.
- Next, cook the playdough over medium heat, stirring constantly. First, the playdough starts to clump up, forming packets of dough, and that’s what you want. Keep stirring until it comes together into a bowl that doesn’t stick to the sides of the saucepan.
- Remove from the saucepan carefully as it’s hot and transfer onto the benchtop or wooden board. If you are using food coloring, cover the surface with parchment paper first to prevent the play dough from transferring color to your kitchen bench.
- Sprinkle some flour on top of the ball and knead until the dough is soft, not wet, and fun to play with.
Candy Canes
To make the candy canes below, we made two separate batches of the Christmas playdough recipe, one red and one white. Then, have fun and roll cylinders of dough of the same length and twist them together. Finally, shape the long one into a sugar cane shape. Of course, there’s not just one way to play with this playdough. Give your kids some:
- Rolling pin
- Christmas-related cookie cutters like a gingerbread man, stars, or a Christmas tree.
- Red and Green Christmas sequins adding texture to the playdough is a great sensory play experience.
- White sparkles
Storage
Homemade playdough stores for a few weeks if placed in an airtight Ziploc bag or container. If the dough gets sticky with time, sprinkle some more flour to bring it back to its texture. Read my full post for dry playdough tips.
More Playdough Recipes
I love making homemade playdough for kids. It’s a great sensory play experience, and it’s natural too. Below are my favorite playdough for you to try:
Christmas Playdough
Materials
- 1 cup All-Purpose Flour spoon, slightly packed, level up
- 2 teaspoons Cream of Tartar
- 3 teaspoons Red Liquid Food Coloring or white poster paint for the white playdough
- 2 teaspoons Peppermint Extract
- 1 cup Water
- 1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil like canola oil
Instructions
- In a non-stick saucepan, whisk all the dry ingredients: flour and cream of tartar.
- In a measuring cup of 1cup (250ml), add food coloring peppermint extract and fill the cup with water until it reaches the top.
- Pour onto the dry ingredients with the vegetable oil and stir to combine until a consistent paste forms.
- Bring to medium heat and cook the playdough constantly stirring, increasing heat if needed until the dough clumps up and forms a ball that unsticks from the side of the pan.
- When the dough comes together, stop heat, transfer to a floured surface and knead until soft and easy to play with.
- If the dough is too sticky, dust 1 extra tablespoon of flour and vigorously knead for 1 minute. As the dough cools down and absorbs the extra flour, it becomes super soft and less sticky.
- Repeat this recipe using white poster paint to make the batch of white playdough.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month.
