Homemade Edible Playdough recipe makes playtime both exciting and educational for kids of all ages! The 3-ingredient combination creates soft and fluffy play food that’s completely safe to consume in under 15 minutes!
How To Make Edible Playdough With Frosting
Our Edible Play Dough recipe is quick and easy to make at home using only powdered sugar and a tub of frosting, then coloring it into a soft and squishy-colored confection.
Kids activities and kitchen crafts can keep kids busy for hours on a rainy day – kids love edible playdough recipes because it’s an excuse to play with their food — they can roll it, mold it, build with it, and best of all, taste it!
Break out the cookie cutters or send a big batch to school (it’s great for counting, sorting, or any type of math lesson); homemade playdough recipes are perfect for both sensory play and kitchen crafts (and way less messy than homemade slime)!
Why We Love Edible Play Dough Recipes
- Quick and easy to make.
- Uses only 2 non-toxic ingredients plus food coloring.
- It’s a fun way to play with food and help improve fine and gross motor skills at the same time.
- Suitable for consumption and perfect for sensory play.
- Perfect for play dates, classroom projects, or kitchen crafts.
Edible Playdough Ingredients
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla frosting
- Neon gel food coloring packet (purple, neon green, neon pink, and orange)
Substitutions and Additions
- Customize Your Colors: You can use a traditional packet of gel food coloring with red, yellow, blue, and green if preferred, or a combination from the two packets. You can even color white frosting with Kool Aid packets too!
- Use Flavored Or Colored Frosting: Feel free to swap the vanilla frosting for chocolate, strawberry, or even peanut butter flavored frosting and them omit the gel food coloring. This then becomes a 2-ingredient recipe that you can make with your favorite flavors and colors.
How to Make Edible Playdough
- Prepare The Playdough: Mix together the vanilla frosting and powdered sugar until thick and slightly sticky. Add a large handful of powdered sugar to the mixture and knead it with your hands.
Pro Tip: The dough with become less sticky as you knead it. Add more powdered sugar as needed until your dough isn’t sticky, but smooth and “cloud” like. - Cut And Color: Form the dough into a large ball, then cut it into four even portions. Add food coloring to each portion and knead it in with your hands.
Pro Tip: Start with about 10-12 inches of food coloring at the beginning. The coloring will start streaky but as you work the dough should blend beautifully and evenly. - Play With Your Playdough: Immediately play with your creation! Have fun!
Tips For Making Edible Playdough
- Be sure to use gel food coloring and not drops.
- When adding powdered sugar to the playdough the first time, you may need to wash your hands before continuing. The sticky dough will stick to your hands a little at first before you add more powdered sugar. Kneading the dough with sticky hands may prevent the playdough from reaching the cloud-like phase sooner.
- You can add more powdered sugar if your playdough is at all sticky.
- Powdered sugar also makes for a great “floured surface” when rolling out the playdough, playing, and cutting out shapes.
How to Store Edible Playdough
- To Store: Store your edible playdough in an airtight container, a ziplock bag, or plastic wrap for 3 or 4 days.
More Easy Kids Recipes
Edible Playdough
Serves — 4
Edible Playdough makes it acceptable to play with your food! A fun activity for kids of all ages ready in 15 minutes.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 2-4 cups powdered sugar
- 16 ounces tub of Vanilla frosting
- Neon gel food coloring packet purple, neon green, neon pink, and orange
Instructions
- Add 2 cups of powdered sugar to a large mixing bowl.2-4 cups powdered sugar
- Add 1 tub of vanilla frosting to the powdered sugar and mix well using an electric hand or stand mixer. Mix for 3-4 minutes or until the mixture is thick and slightly sticky. Remove any excess mixture from the beaters back into the bowl.16 ounces tub of Vanilla frosting
- Add a large handful of powdered sugar (about ½ cup) to the mixture. Using your hands, work the powdered sugar into the dough, kneading the playdough. You will notice the dough get dramatically less sticky as you do this. Add more powdered sugar as needed until your dough isn’t sticky, but smooth and “cloud” like.
- Remove dough from the bowl and form into a large ball.
- Use a sharp knife to cut the ball into four even portions, making one cut up and down and one cut side to side.
- Separate the playdough into four even bowls and add food coloring to each. Start with about 10-12 inches of food coloring at the beginning.Neon gel food coloring packet
- Use your hands to knead the playdough, mixing in the food coloring as you work the dough. The coloring will start streaky but as you work the dough should blend beautifully and evenly. Add more powdered sugar if your playdough is at all sticky, starting with ¼ cup. Repeat for each color.
- Immediately play with your creation! You can use the playdough to cut out fun shapes and this recipe is completely edible.
Jenn’s Notes
Storage:
- To Store: Store your edible playdough in an airtight container, a ziplock bag, or plastic wrap for 3 or 4 days.
- Be sure to use gel food coloring and not drops.
- When adding powdered sugar to the playdough the first time, you may need to wash your hands before continuing. The sticky dough will stick to your hands a little at first before you add more powdered sugar. Kneading the dough with sticky hands may prevent the playdough from reaching the cloud-like phase sooner.
- You can add more powdered sugar if your playdough is at all sticky.
- Powdered sugar also makes for a great “floured surface” when rolling out the playdough, playing, and cutting out shapes.
Nutrition Info
Calories: 707kcal | Carbohydrates: 137g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Sodium: 210mg | Potassium: 40mg | Sugar: 130g | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 0.2mg
This homemade edible playdough recipe sounds like such a fun and creative activity for kids! I love how it combines playtime with learning opportunities, like counting and sorting. The fact that it’s made with just frosting and powdered sugar makes it super simple and quick—perfect for a rainy day.
i absolutely love this recipe. we love playing with playdough in our home but couldn’t cause my grandsons love licking it . this recipe is going to be so much fun
YAY!! Let us know what you think! Enjoy!!