Here are some favourite fall play dough recipes, featuring autumn colours and lovely warming spices. They’re so wonderful to play with, giving your children a sensory boost on colder autumn days.
Fall play dough recipes
One of the best things about using homemade play dough is being able to add in extra sensory elements, such as colours and scent. These play dough recipes feature autumn shades and lovely spices, that fit the season perfectly.
If you’ve never made your own play dough before, give it a try. It’s quick and easy and you can make a generous amount, giving your children abundant materials to play and create with. And if you wrap it up well in a plastic bag after you’ve finished playing, it can last you right through until you’re ready to make some homemade Christmas play dough instead!
To make my favourite homemade play dough recipe you’ll need to mix, in a large bowl:
2 cups of plain (all purpose) flour
1 cup of salt
2 tablespoons of cream of tartar
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Then give your play dough an autumnal twist by adding in some spices. I made four bowls of the play dough mix and added a different spice to each: grated cloves, ground ginger, ground cinnamon and grated nutmeg.
Then you need to add in some liquid to bring your dough together. For a basic play dough recipe you’d add 1 and half cups of just-boiled water. To add some seasonal colour, I replaced some of this water with a good squirt of paint.
I most often use food colouring when I make playdough, but the paint gives a great colour boost to your dough. I used a washable-, ready-made poster paint (tempera) and it gave a really even colour throughout the dough and didn’t come off on our hands when we played with it.
Stir your ingredients together in the bowl to form a dough, then tip it out and give it a good knead for a few minutes – and then you’re ready to play!
Brandee says
23/09/2013 at 3:51 pmHow much of each spice did you use in the bowls? And is each bowl the full batch from your recipe?
Cathy James says
24/09/2013 at 6:38 pmHi Brandee. Yes, each bowl is a full batch of the recipe, and we just sprinkled in some spice – maybe a teaspoon in each, I’d guess.
Marion Haugh says
23/09/2013 at 8:03 pmLoved the dough. Just made a batch and it smells wonderful. Thanks MH
Cathy James says
24/09/2013 at 6:37 pmHope you have fun playing with it Marion 🙂
Cassi says
01/10/2013 at 1:41 amI can just imagine how wonderful these must smell! I’ll be featuring this on The Crafty Crow soon!
Cathy James says
01/10/2013 at 6:28 pmOh Cassie, they smell fantastic! I’ll be excited to be on The Crafy Crow – thank you!
Thebarefootmom says
02/10/2013 at 7:02 pmI am doing this tomorrow with my son. I usually scent with lavender…but this is great! Thanks for the idea!!
Thebarefootmom.com
Cathy James says
02/10/2013 at 7:53 pmHope you and your son have a lovely play time!
Paula says
05/10/2013 at 7:40 pmHave just made these and the coloured pasta leaves on another of your posts. My son loves them and I’m sure they will go down really well at my play group too. Thank you x
Anne Mette Møller says
16/10/2013 at 3:37 pmIt is so much better making your own play dough instead of buying that horrible stuff you can buy at stores. I usually add some food colour – it also gives nice colours.
Cathy James says
16/10/2013 at 4:08 pmYes, I just love the range of colours, scents and textures you can add when you make it yourself.
MrsTPreschool says
24/10/2013 at 5:56 pmI love this idea but my 3 year old preschool disabled class love to try to eat the play dough. I’m afraid this would make it even more enticing! Any ideas on this?
Cathy James says
24/10/2013 at 7:44 pmHi MrsTPreschool. What do you do for sensory play usually? Do you offer things the children can eat (like masked potatoes perhaps?) Have they used play dough before? The taste is extremely salty, and I would always supervise the play and model ways to play and not eat it. You’ll know your children, of course, so if you think play dough is suitable but you don’t want to use spices, you can simply leave them out. Or can I help you find other ideas for sensory play that might be more suitable? Let me know a bit more about your children, and we can perhaps work out some ideas together?
Kimberly says
03/12/2013 at 1:19 pmDo you happen to have a printable version of the recipe? I just don’t want to print out all the pictures too! Thanks! Love the recipe!
Cathy James says
03/12/2013 at 6:11 pmYou can find the basic recipe (and lots more) in The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book { http://cathyjames.org/the-homemade-play-dough-recipe-book } which you can print Kimberly.
Suzanne says
04/01/2014 at 11:07 amWhen we add paint after two days nursery use it turns sticky and has to be binned.
Emmalene Barnby says
02/09/2015 at 3:24 pmI have had a play dough recipe since I was a young teen. Adding scent to it sounds like a great idea!
renecca says
11/09/2015 at 4:13 amSdo u have to use cream tarta struggling to buy
Cathy James says
11/09/2015 at 8:44 pmNo renecca, you can leave out the cream of tartar and the recipe should still work fine. I’ve noticed it’s much harder to find in the shops too. Cathy
Jennifer says
01/12/2015 at 1:20 amHello! I was wondering how you store the dough when done playing and how long it lasts before deciding it’s too dried out. Thanks!
Cathy James says
01/12/2015 at 10:07 amHi Jennifer. I fasten ours up in a plastic food bag, or sometimes in a glass jar with a air-tight lid (like a Mason/Kilner jar). It can last for months and months, but depends how long you have it out for play each time, and even the climate you’re in!
Ashley says
14/11/2017 at 10:22 pmIs the dough edible?
Cathy James says
16/11/2017 at 9:43 amHi Ashley. Not if you’re using paint. If you use food coloring instead then all your ingredients would be edible, but there’s so much salt in it that I wouldn’t want to eat it!
Debbie Denyer - Squidgydoodle says
06/10/2018 at 11:49 amI love the idea of adding spices to the Play Dough. They must smell gorgeous and it adds to the sensory experience. Can’t wait to try it.
Cathy James says
07/10/2018 at 9:19 pmHave fun!
Jo says
07/10/2018 at 12:09 pmLove this idea, my little one adores play doh and I’m loving the thought of these scents! #blogcrush
Cathy James says
07/10/2018 at 9:18 pmThanks Jo! And love that hashtag!
Daydreams of a Mum says
09/10/2018 at 10:58 pmWe’re obsessed with home made play dough here despite the little one now being 10!!! We have special Christmas scents but never occurred to me to do Autumn ones ! #BlogCrush
Becca says
24/01/2019 at 6:56 pmJust came across this while looking for things to keep my twin occupied! Definitely added to the list. Thanks!
Cathy James says
24/01/2019 at 7:55 pmHope you all have fun with it Becca!