Clay Dough Recipe for Kids

clay dough kids activity

Very rarely am I surprised by an activity I plan for my children. It usually goes exactly how I envisioned, or goes terribly wrong.

I was looking for something different to do with my kids and was about to make our reliable salt dough recipe which you can find HERE. I simply didn’t have enough salt and wasn’t about to drag two toddlers to the grocery store.

I stumbled across this recipe from a teacher friend and tweaked it to perfection! This dough is so fun to play with as it’s not sticky! After you bake it, the dough becomes hard so that you can paint or decorate your little ornaments. Clay dough is truly a two part activity. It can be done all at once or over two days.

The clay dough takes a few minutes to cook on the stove, as you will see in the instructions. Since your little ones won’t be operating the stove, you can have this ready for them in under 10 minutes. Most of the ingredients needed for this toddler activity are found right in your home!

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup baking soda

  • 1/2 cup corn starch

  • 3/4 cup warm water

  • Pot & cookie pan

  • Stove

  • Whisk

  • Rolling pin

  • Cookie cutters

  • Paint (optional)

  • Parchment paper

Instructions:

1) Mix 1/2 cup corn starch and 1 cup baking soda in a pot, ensuring there are no clumps and it is fully mixed together.
2) Add in your warm water and place on your stove over medium heat.
3) Constantly mix using a whisk for several minutes. The consistency will change from liquid to bubbles, and then to a thick dough.
4) Once the dough forms immediately remove the pot from the heat and allow it to cool. Approx 5-10 minutes.
5) Work dough with your hands so that it forms a smooth texture.
6) Congratulations, you are ready for part one of this activity! Give the dough to your children and have them make fun shapes. You can use cookie cutters or get creative with your shapes.
7) Once your shapes are formed, place them on a sheet of parchment paper on a pan and bake at 200F for 45 minutes, flipping once half way.
8) Let your shapes cool and get ready for part two of this activity! Get creative with how your paint or glue things onto these ornaments, the options are endless. Paint, glitter, or even glow-in-the-dark paint are fun ideas my kids have loved!

I hope your family enjoys making our clay dough recipe.

TAG me on Instagram with your photos! I’d love to see!
@unstoppable.mama

 
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