Pumpkin Spice Playdough

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Ella loved the pumpkin spice oobleck we made recently, but it is kind of a one-time use sensory activity for kids, so I thought we’d try our hand at a pumpkin spice play dough!
 
Pumpkin Spice Play Dough - easy homemade play dough recipe used in a pumpkin patch play dough invitation. A wonderful and amazing smelling fall sensory activity for kids.
 
We’ve made this pumpkin spice play dough twice now, with a slightly different recipe each time. One version uses real pumpkin puree, while the other just uses pumpkin spices and leaves out the actual pumpkin.
 
The recipe with the real pumpkin has a slight orange colour to it, but due to the nature of having real food in it, it has less of a shelf life than the spices-only version.
 Pumpkin Spice Play Dough - easy homemade play dough recipe used in a pumpkin patch play dough invitation. A wonderful and amazing smelling fall sensory activity for kids.

Pumpkin Spice Play Dough Recipe:

  • Water
  • Vegetable Oil <– you can use melted coconut oil but if it’s cold where you are, it will make the play dough a bit tough at the start of playing (will soften with the heat of hands playing)
  • Flour
  • Salt
  • Cream of Tartar <– I buy the big container or from a bulk store as those little jars are so expensive! A bulk container will last us for months of play dough making – and can also be used for soft sugar cookies, snickerdoodle cookies, etc.
  • Pumpkin Puree
  • Pumpkin Pie Spice <– grab our recipe for homemade pumpkin pie spice

I like using these sectioned trays for our craft invitations.

Materials for our Pumpkin Patch Play Dough Invitation:

In retrospect, I wish I had added some green pipe cleaners to this pumpkin patch play dough invitation to imitate the twisting vines of the pumpkins, but the kids still had a ton of fun with the invitation as it was set up.

   Pumpkin spice play dough - an amazing-smelling fall sensory activity for kids. This no-cook homemade play dough is super easy to make and kids will love it!

How to Make Pumpkin Spice Play Dough

Cook water, puree, spices and oil over medium heat until starting to boil.
Add the dry ingredients and stir until a ball starts to form.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead once cool enough to touch. You may need to add additional flour to get the consistency you’d like.
 
Make a mini-pumpkin patch with this amazing no-cook homemade pumpkin spice play dough

You can develop so many wonderful play dough invitations with this pumpkin spice play dough – from a coffee shop, to a leaf play dough, to a pumpkin pie play invitation. I decided to do a pumpkin patch invitation with materials I had on hand.

Smelling the different scents that we used in our pumpkin spice play dough - a great add-on sensory activity for kids

I love adding the whole versions of spices or scents that we add to our play dough – like offering a whole vanilla bean with a vanilla buttercream play dough.

Exploring a cinnamon stick offers an additional layer of sensory input to the cinnamon scent in the play dough and allows children to explore isolating their sensory perceptions – can they smell the cinnamon stick and find that smell in the play dough?

Making mini-pumpkin patches from our pumpkin patch play dough invitation
 
I loved all of the little scenes that the children made with the pumpkin spice play dough, planting their flowers (reminiscent of our garden clean mud sensory bin) and pumpkins to make mini-pumpkin patches, making patterns with the seeds and the imprints of the pumpkin grooves.
 
We used lots of descriptive language to describe the fall scents, colours, and textures that we experienced while playing with the pumpkin spice play dough. With older children, it’s also great to encourage them to make connections to where they may have seen, smelled, or experienced those same sensory inputs before – which is a great memory building activity that strengthens their neural pathways.

Enjoying a great sensory activity for kids - pumpkin spice play dough and a pumpkin patch play dough invitation to welcome fall!

I did find that the pumpkin spice play dough with the real pumpkin in it dried out a bit quicker than our other homemade play doughs, but it did revive quickly with the addition of some oil. I personally preferred the pumpkin-free version mostly because it was a no-cook recipe, but they were both equally amazing to smell and the kids loved playing with their pumpkin spice play dough!

 

Grab our printable recipe for homemade pumpkin spice play dough:

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Yield: 2 cups play dough

Pumpkin Spice Playdough

Pumpkin Spice Playdough

Pumpkin Spice Play Dough - easy homemade play dough recipe used in a pumpkin patch play dough invitation. A wonderful and amazing smelling fall sensory activity for kids.

Prep Time 5 minutes
Active Time 5 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Difficulty Easy
Estimated Cost $3

Materials

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup salt
  • 1 T cream of tartar
  • 1/4 cup pumpkin puree (ours was homemade and very thin compared to store-bought puree)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 Tablespoons oil
  • 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg, optional
  • 1 teaspoon ginger, optional
  • 1 teaspoon cloves, optional

Tools

  • Measuring cups and spoons
  • Mixing bowl
  • Spatula

Instructions

  1. Cook water, puree, spices and oil over medium heat until starting to boil.
  2. Add the dry ingredients and stir until a ball starts to form.
  3. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead once cool enough to touch. You may need to add additional flour to get the consistency you'd like.

Notes

Or, if you'd prefer to leave out the pumpkin (and use a no-cook play dough recipe):

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup salt
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 2 Tablespoons oil
  • 1 Tablespoon cream of tartar
  • 2 Tablespoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg, optional
  • 1 teaspoon ginger, optional
  • 1 teaspoon cloves, optional

Stir all dry ingredients together. Add the oil to the boiling water before pouring into the dry ingredients.

Mix ingredients with a wooden spoon or spatula until a thick dough forms. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead once cool enough to touch. You may need to add some flour to get the consistency that you want.

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Pumpkin Spice Play Dough - easy homemade play dough recipe used in a pumpkin patch play dough invitation. A wonderful and amazing smelling fall sensory activity for kids.

Be sure to check out our other Sensory Activities for Kids and Homemade Play Dough ideas!

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