Soft, easy to make Gingerbread Playdough recipe is a fun, scented playdough perfect for Christmas play! This easy playdough recipe only takes about 10 minutes to make and it will last all holiday season.
If you’re looking for super fun activities to do during Christmas break, you’re going to love this gingerbread playdough recipe! This fun little recipe is a science experiment, craft, and play time toy all-in-one. Not to mention, it smells so delicious you might want to eat it! However, it isn’t edible playdough but it is non-toxic. So moms and dads can rest easy that if a quick moving toddler snatches a bite, everything will be just fine.
We love to make homemade play dough around here. Pumpkin play dough is a must to make during the fall, and now we make homemade gingerbread playdough during the Christmas season! If you have kiddos who love to play chef, make these play dough creations and this pumpkin pie craft and they can act like they’re making real desserts in their kitchen. It is always so much fun to watch active imaginations go to work when playing with play dough!
Why You’ll Love Gingerbread Playdough
- The texture and yummy smell of gingerbread playdough is great for sensory play! It will help develop fine motor skills and get their little fingers moving.
- Creating fun things with playdough promotes creativity and encourages children to use their imaginations!
- If you’re out of ideas for screen-free playtime, learn how to make gingerbread playdough. This super simple craft is a great way to get kids to play without a screen.
Ingredients for Gingerbread Playdough Recipe
- Flour – Use all purpose flour as the base of this gingerbread playdough recipe.
- Water – A little water will help to incorporate all of the ingredients and bring moisture to the mixture.
- Vegetable oil – Adding this to playodugh helps to keep it malleable and soft.
- Brown food coloring – Food coloring is optional, but will help create a deeper color in your gingerbread playdough.
- Ground cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger – These spices combine to make the quintessential gingerbread smell. It is the best part about homemade playdough! You can add anything you want to make it smell absolutely amazing.
- Salt – Salt helps give this playdough structure and keep it sticking together.
- Cream of tartar – Cream of tartar is the magic ingredient that make play dough soft and squishy!
How to Make Gingerbread Playdough
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together all purpose flour, salt, cream of tartar and each of the ground spices.
- Add vegetable oil and water to the dry ingredients and stir. You can also add brown food coloring at this step to make a gingerbread color.
- Continuously stir the mixture over low to medium heat. While stirring, you should see the play dough begin to thicken. Keep stirring the mixture until it forms a giant dough ball and no lumps remain.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the finished play dough to cool for several minutes. Please be careful at this stage as the play dough will be quite hot.
- Once the play dough is cool enough to handle, place it on a clean surface and knead it until it is smooth and has a consistent texture. If you find that it is too sticky, just add a bit more flour. On the flip side, if it’s too dry just add a bit of water!
- Store the gingerbread playdough in an airtight container at room temperature when you’re not playing with it. If stored properly, it will last for a few weeks!
Gingerbread Playdough Creation Ideas!
Use your imagination and get as creative as you’d like when playing with this cookie play dough! The possibilities are endless and you can make so many fun creations.
Play “kitchen” and use gingerbread man cookie cutters to make fake cookies. Then you can use googly eyes on the face and make a smile with little toothpick holes or red playdough. Then add buttons or other cute decorations for their little outfits!
You can use other Christmas cookie cutters like stockings, snowflakes, and ornaments and decorate them with fun objects. Craft gems, string, beads, and playdough stamps would make endless fun creations.
Pro Tips for the Best Gingerbread Playdough Recipe
- Be careful when cooking the playdough mixture. If you overcook it, it will become too dry and will be crumbly and difficult to make shapes with.
- If you’d like to preserve some of the shapes and creations you make, then bake them in the oven until hardened. It would be a great way to make gingerbread ornaments!
- Wrap some homemade playdough in a Christmas tin, tie a ribbon around it and gift it to friends or family. This would be a great way for kids to gift something special to their friends for the holidays.
Now that you know how to make gingerbread playdough, you’ll never want to buy store-bought stuff again!
More Playdough Recipes You’ll Love
- Do you have kiddos who will instantly eat whatever they play with? Then make a batch of Edible Playdough and let ’em go to town!
- Make Peppermint Christmas Playdough to have more than one festive batch of playdough to play with.
- Need a simple recipe for regular play dough? I’ve got the Best Homemade Playdough recipe!
- Change things up for playtime and make a batch of Cloud Dough!
Gingerbread Playdough
Materials
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup iodized salt
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 cup water
- Brown food coloring optional for a deeper gingerbread color
Instructions
- In a medium-sized saucepan, whisk together the flour, salt, cream of tartar, and all the spices (ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves).
- Add the vegetable oil and water to the dry mixture. You can also add brown food coloring for a deeper gingerbread color.
- Stir the mixture continuously over low to medium heat. The play dough will start to come together, and you’ll notice it thickening. Keep stirring until it forms a dough ball and there are no lumps.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the play dough to cool for a few minutes. Be careful; it will be hot.
- Once the play dough is cool enough to handle, place it on a clean surface and knead it until it’s smooth and has a consistent texture. If it’s too sticky, you can add a bit more flour; if it’s too dry, you can add a touch of water.
- Store your gingerbread playdough in an airtight container when you’re not using it. Properly stored, it should last for several weeks.
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