The BEST & Softest Homemade PlayDough (Only Cornstarch and Lotion)

Create DIY playdough that is so silky with only 2-ingredients

With all the handwashing going around, this easy homemade playdough is not only fun to play with but also great for your skin.  My children and I were calling this awesome 2-ingredient playdough: moon dough. You simply make this soft playdough by mixing cornstarch and lotion.

 

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We also ended using food coloring to make, mix and marble colors in our playdough.

My children spent a good hour exploring this new sensory dough. In my book, that is a good activity for preschoolers!

How to make the softest playdough ever

Steps to making our moon dough

1. Add 3 parts cornstarch in a bowl. Stir in 1 part lotion. (We used 3 cups and 1 cup and seemed to have enough for both children to play with and make different colors).

2. Mix together until the homemade playdough is soft and will not stick to your hands. I found that using the back of the spoon to push the moon dough together really helped with consistency.

3. Optional: You can add a few drops of food coloring.

Homemade Playdough Mistake alert:

When mixing the colors, I let my son just start to mix with his hands…

Right on the food coloring. Obviously, his hands were pretty blue for the rest of the day. It is much better if you use the back of the spoon to push the color in.

4. Play and have fun using this homemade silky playdough.

Playdough Clean-up Tip

So as the children played with this cornstarch and lotion playdough, it started to “dry” out. You can clump it back together. However, I found putting a little bit of lotion on your hands helped collect the dried pieces.

Also, anytime you use homemade playdough, it is a little messier than regular store-bought. However, have your children work in one space and then just simply vacuum up the rest (I ABSOLUTELY SWEAR BY THIS VACUUM)!

How to make Oobleck one day and then Playdough the next

I am all about reusing materials and not spending a fortune. And yes…even on cornstarch.

So to make this playdough, I actually reused the dried up cornstarch from our last time we made the DIY oobleck. I just let it dry up (it is only cornstarch and water). I used a soup spoon to turn the chunks of cornstarch into a powder. 

This was a complete win in my book and we were able to get 2 activities out of one box of cornstarch.

We hope you continue to be safe at home with your family and enjoy making creative memories together. 

If you are interested in other homemade playdough recipes, check out this book. And if you are simply looking for a product that is just as fun, but no-mess here is one of my favorite sculpting material for kids!

Let us know how your homemade silky playdough making went! We would love to see the sculptures that were able to be made with just cornstarch and lotion!