I love mixing new ingredients into our homemade play dough and seeing what happens.

Homemade play dough is so cheap to make, you can really afford to play around with it – and sometimes, that leads to amazing discoveries.

Like this homemade bubble gum play dough.

It smells, looks, and feels like the real thing!

I originally came up with this bubble gum play dough when Ella was two and her grandpa was left in charge of taking her trick or treating, as I had to work. It was raining, so he made the executive decision to stay inside – which, I guess was the responsible thing to do, but it left Ella with no Hallowe’en candy of her own!

This was my way of making it up to her, and still, 2 years later, this is one of Ella’s favourite homeade play doughs.

 

Check out our quick video for how to make homemade play dough – and then don’t forget to scroll down to grab your free printable recipe:

Homemade Bubble Gum 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.
• Bubble Gum Extract

Stir all dry ingredients together, then add the oil into measuring cup holding your boiling water. Carefully add the boiling water to the dry ingredients and stir to incorporate.
Turn out onto a floured surface and knead as soon as cool enough to touch, until stretchy and elastic.
If you’d prefer a cooked recipe, reduce the flour by 1 cup and cook all of the ingredients over medium heat for five minutes, until dough sticks to itself but not fingers when lightly touched. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead as soon as the homemade play dough is cool enough to touch. Add more flour as necessary during the kneading process.

The first time I made this, we just made the play dough, but recently Ella was having a bit of a sick day so I thought I’d make her a bubble gum play dough invitation to lift her spirits.

Bubble Gum Play Dough Invitation

• Homemade bubble gum play dough (or just pink play dough)
• Marbles
• Pompoms
• Mini bubblegum dispenser <– or a full sized one if you don’t mind cleaning it out after (and the full-sized one doubles as a piggy bank!)
• Strips of tinfoil or aluminium foil

You could also add small bouncy balls, melon ballers, or anything else your child enjoys using for play dough.

Ella loved inserting the marbles into the play dough, and wrapping up pieces of play dough in the bits of tin foil. However, she quickly tired of me taking her picture 😉

Grab our free printable recipe for this homemade bubblegum play dough:

This would make a perfect homemade play dough invitation for a child who cannot chew bubblegum, or as a fun lead-up to Hallowe’en. You could even mix the dry ingredients together, place them in a small jar, and gift them!

What do you think? Would you try your hand at homemade bubble gum play dough?

Be sure to check out the rest of our homemade play dough invitations!