Did you know kids love homemade playdough of all kinds? I sure do! This super soft cornstarch playdough with only 2 ingredients couldn’t be easier and the kids can easily help you! We love sensory activities and this one takes the cake with a silky soft texture and great squish-ability. Read on for the easiest playdough recipe ever!

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Make Playdough With Cornstarch

Playdough is an excellent addition to your sensory activities! Even create a busy box from a ball or two of this soft cornstarch playdough, cookie cutters, and a rolling pin.

Did you know that homemade sensory play materials like this 2 ingredient cornstarch playdough are amazing for helping young kids develop an awareness of their senses?

You will find fun playdough activities sprinkled below to encourage hands-on learning, fine motor skills, math, and much more!

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Scented Apple Playdough and Pumpkin Pie Playdough

 

Fun Things To Do With Playdough

1. Playdough Letter & Counting Activities

  • Turn your playdough into a counting activity by adding dice! Roll and place the correct amount of items on a piece of rolled out playdough! Use buttons, beads, or small toys for counting.
  • Make it a game and the first one to 20, wins!
  • Add number playdough stamps and pair with the items to practice numbers 1-10 or 1-20.
  • Make an alphabet letter activity tray with playdough.

2. Practice Fine Motor Skills

  • Mix small items into the playdough and add a pair of kid-safe tweezers or tongs for a hide and seek game!
  • Make a sorting activity. Roll out the soft playdough into different shapes. Next, mix up the items and have the kids sort them by color, size or type to the different playdough shapes using the tweezers!
  • Use kid-safe playdough scissors to practice cutting playdough into pieces.
  • Simply using cookie cutters to cut out shapes is great for little fingers!
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3. STEM Activities With Soft Playdough

  • Turn your 2 Ingredient playdough into a STEM activity for the book Ten Apples Up On Top by Dr. Seuss! Challenge your kids to roll up 10 apples out of playdough and stack them 10 apples tall! See more ideas for 10 Apples Up On Top here.
  • Challenge the kids to create different size playdough balls and put them in the correct order of size!
  • Add toothpicks and roll up “mini balls” out of the playdough and use them along with the toothpicks to create 2D and 3D shapes!

4. Add Printable Playdough Mats

You can find all of our printable playdough mats here or check out some of our favorites…

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Cornstarch Playdough Recipe

This is a fun super soft playdough recipe, check out our no-cook playdough recipe or a more traditional cooked playdough recipe for easy alternatives.

Ingredients:

The ratio for this recipe is 1 part hair conditioner to two parts cornstarch. We used one cup and two cups, but you can adjust the recipe as desired.

  • 1 cup of hair conditioner
  • 2 cups of cornstarch
  • Mixing bowl and spoon
  • Food coloring (optional)
  • Playdough accessories

How To Make Playdough With Cornstarch

STEP 1:   Start by adding the hair conditioner to a bowl.

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STEP 2:  If you want to add a few drops of food coloring, now’s the time! We made several colors of this 2 ingredient playdough. So quick and easy!

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STEP 3: Now add the cornstarch to thicken your dough and give it that awesome playdough texture. You can start out mixing the conditioner and cornstarch with a spoon, but eventually, you will have to switch to kneading it with your hands.

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STEP 4:  Time to get the hands in the bowl and knead your playdough. Once the mixture is fully incorporated, you can remove the soft playdough and place on a clean surface to finish kneading into a silky smooth ball!

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Mixing Tip: The beauty of this 2 ingredient playdough recipe is that the measurements are loose. If the mixture isn’t firm enough, add a pinch of cornstarch. But if the mixture is too dry, add a glob of conditioner. Find your favorite consistency! Make it an experiment!

Note: Inexpensive hair conditioner works perfectly. You can easily add food coloring as desired or leave it plain. Some conditioners are naturally tinted.

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How To Store Playdough

This cornstarch playdough has a unique texture and is a bit different than our traditional playdough recipes. Because it does not have preservatives like salt in it, it will not last long!

Generally, you would store homemade playdough in an airtight container in the fridge. Similarly, you can still store this conditioner playdough in an airtight container or zip-top bag, but it won’t be as much fun to play with again and again.

MAKE SURE TO CHECK OUT: Non–toxic and borax free Edible Slime Recipes

More Fun Sensory Recipes To Make

We have a few more recipes that are all time favorites! Easy to make, only a few ingredients and young kids love them for sensory play! Looking for more unique ways to engage the senses? Check out more fun sensory activities for kids!

Make kinetic sand that is moldable play sand for little hands.

Homemade oobleck is easy with just 2 ingredients.

Mix up some soft and moldable cloud dough.

Find out how simple it is to color rice for sensory play.

Try edible slime for a taste safe play experience.

Of course, playdough with shaving foam or glow in the dark playdough is fun to try!

Printable Playdough Recipes Pack

If you want an easy-to-use printable resource for all of your favorite playdough recipes as well as exclusive (only available in this pack) playdough mats, grab our printable Playdough Project Pack!