Dying Homemade Play-Doh with Natural Ingredients

Making your own homemade play-doh or modeling clay is a fun activity for a snowy day or lazy Saturday. While food coloring can turn your homemade play-doh fun colors, you really don't need it to make colorful homemade play-doh. There are plenty of natural ingredients that will turn your homemade play-doh into beautifully colored balls of fun. Here are some options for using totally natural ingredients to dye your homemade play-doh clay.

Before you can naturally dye your homemade play-doh, you need to have the dough made. There are lots of great recipes for making homemade play-doh with simple natural ingredients such as flour and vegetable oil. You can find recipes for homemade play-doh here and here.

Cocoa Powder. Cocoa powder is a wonderful natural dye for making brown homemade play-dough. Just add 4 T of cocoa powder and one T of water to ¾ cup of homemade play-dough mix while mixing on the stovetop. Combine thoroughly. Not only will cocoa powder make beautiful brown homemade play-doh, this natural play-doh dye also smells great!

Paprika. The beautiful bright reddish orange of paprika will make lovely orange homemade play-doh. To use this natural homemade play-doh dye just add 1 T to your play-doh mix as you are cooking it, along with an extra 1 T of water. For a softer orange color, or a more intense orange color, you can add more or less paprika to the play-doh.

Beet Juice. Beet juice is a great natural dye for all sorts of natural dying processes. Therefore, beet juice is great for dying homemade play-doh naturally as well. Just drain a can of canned beets. Use the leftover liquid to add to your homemade play-doh. Warm the beet juice before adding to your play-doh, and reduce the liquid slightly from the original recipe for the best, gorgeous bright pink results.

Turmeric. Just a very small amount of this brightly colored spice will yield a lovely yellow color in your homemade play-doh. To use this natural dye for homemade play-doh, just dissolve 1 t of turmeric in a quarter cup of water. Add to your play-doh mixture as you are creating it. Reduce the liquid in the original recipe to keep your play-doh from being too soft. Your final homemade play-doh product will be a lovely natural yellow color.

Dying homemade play-doh the natural way is easy and fun, and the results are beautiful. Try these natural ingredients for naturally dying your own homemade play-doh.