Homemade Christmas-Scented Playdough Recipes Your Kids Will Love

If you are looking for an easy way to bring the winter and Christmas season into your home, then you need to try this easy DIY homemade Christmas playdough recipe. This homemade playdough smells so good you will almost mistake it for the actual thing! With simple ingredients and just a few minutes by the stove, it is the easiest recipe. The best part is you’ll have the softest Christmas sensory activity for the whole family to enjoy!

Table of Contents

Ingredients You Need to Make Homemade Playdough

Ingredients to make playdough: flour, oil, cream of tartar, salt, vanilla, peppermint extract, cinnamon, ginger and food coloring.

Flour – All-purpose works great for this. Bleached or unbleached is just fine.

Salt – Use any fine-grain salt you want, but iodized or sea salt works well. I usually go with the cheapest option since it is not for consumption.

Oil – You can use any oil. I used basic vegetable oil, but melted coconut oil can also work.

Cream of Tartar – This is needed to help make the dough stronger and stiffer. It also gives playdough that elastic characteristic we all love; the end result is the perfect texture for playdough. I recommend getting a large bag of this. It is much more cost-effective than getting the small containers at the grocery store.

Cinnamon – Use ground cinnamon for this.

Ginger – Use ground ginger for this.

Vanilla Extract – Use vanilla extract that you use in baked goods. You can find this at any grocery store in the baking section.

Peppermint Extract – Peppermint extract can be found at most grocery stores in the baking section.

Food Coloring– This recipe is for liquid food coloring drops. Adjust as needed for your type of food coloring. You can also use gel food coloring.

Christmas Season Playdough Scents

The Christmas season is my favorite time of the year, as we bring in a whole new array of fragrances like peppermint, gingerbread, and lots of Christmas cookies. Also, if you are looking for more Christmas playdough recipes, be sure to check out my Christmas-scented playdough with essential oils for additional seasonal recipes.

This easy Christmas playdough is a great recipe to use when making homemade gifts. In this blog post, I will share a homemade gingerbread playdough recipe, peppermint playdough, and sugar cookie.

Peppermint Playdough

Ingredients

1 cup of all purpose flour (160 g)
1/2 cup salt (165 g)
1 cup of water (205 g)
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (24 g)
2 tablespoons of cream of tartar (26 g)
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract
70 drops of green food coloring to make a dark green dough

playdough rolled out with pine tree cut outs.

Gingerbread Playdough

Ingredients

1 cup of all purpose flour (160 g)
1/2 cup salt (165 g)
1 cup of water (205 g)
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (24 g)
2 tablespoons of cream of tartar (26 g)
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
10 drops of red food coloring, 10 drops of yellow, and 2 drops of blue food coloring to make brown dough

Playdough in a ball and three ginger bread men cut out of playdough with a cookie cutter.

Sugar Cookie Playdough

Ingredients

1 cup of all purpose flour (160 g)
1/2 cup salt (165 g)
1 cup of water (205 g)
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (24 g)
2 tablespoons of cream of tartar (26 g)
2 tablespoons of vanilla extract

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How to Make Homemade Playdough

It is so quick and easy to whip up this homemade playdough recipe! I will never buy playdough from the store, knowing it just takes a few simple ingredients. Not to mention, I can make it smell so much better! I’ll walk you through every step of the way so you know exactly what to do to make the perfect Christmas-scented playdough!

A measuring cup with water, oil and a bottle of food coloring and peppermint extract.

Step 1: Measure out the water and then add food coloring to the water, if needed. Mix the water and food coloring before adding the oil. Add any liquid additions at this point, such as peppermint or vanilla extract, if necessary.

Step 2: Measure out and then combine the dry ingredients: flour, salt, cream of tartar, and any needed spices for the Christmas-scented playdough you want to make in your saucepan.

Step 3: Add dry and wet ingredients to the saucepan.

Step 4: Heat your saucepan over medium-low heat and stir with a wooden spoon until it all begins to solidify and the dough forms. As it heats, it may get a little lumpy, but this is okay. This process only takes a few minutes, so don’t walk away from your stove!

Step 5: Once it comes together, scoop it out of the pan onto some parchment paper, or I like to do it directly onto my counter. Knead the playdough until the dough cools.

If you forgot to add any of your food coloring or add-ins, you can do it at this point, but it will be harder to incorporate. If you want a stronger scent, you could add additional extracts or seasonings as well.

Step 6: Once your playdough has cooled, store it in a Zip-Lock bag or an airtight container. These plastic containers are the perfect size for one batch of playdough and make a great way to store various scents and colors.

You can also put together a Montessori-friendly playdough kit for more independent playdough fun!

How long will Homemade Playdough last?

Playdough, if stored in a Ziploc bag or an airtight container, should be stored for up to 6 months, but likely longer!

Setting Up Your Playdough for Independent Use

It is important to make things accessible to our children. We can make playdough more accessible by making a Montessori-inspired playdough kit that fosters creativity, independence, and fine motor skills. This Christmas-scented playdough would make a perfect Christmas gift for a child.

You can put together a playdough kit with your own playdough, some seasonal press-ins, such as plastic candy canes, jingle bells, or little gems. Add in your favorite Christmas cookie cutters and a rolling pin, and your child can roll out pretend Christmas cookies!

Gifting Playdough

This holiday season, you can make some extra Christmas play dough and gift it to a child in your life. Homemade creative projects like Christmas-scented playdough make the best gifts and are some of our favorite Christmas activities in our home.

Try these Easy Essential Oil Christmas Playdough Recipes!