Wheat Free, Corn Free, Soy Free Playdough

After discovering that my gluten free playdough recipe worked, I excitedly shared it with several parents of children who have gluten sensitivity or wheat allergies. One of the parents mentioned that this recipe wouldn’t work for her child who, in addition to gluten sensitivity, also has corn sensitivity.

She suggested that maybe tapioca flour or potato starch would be a good substitute. So I altered the recipe to use potato starch instead of cornstarch. I also used grapeseed oil instead of soybean oil, to eliminate another potential allergen.

1 cup potato starch

2 cups baking soda

1-1/4 cups cold water

1 tablespoon grapeseed or canola oil

1 tablespoon food coloring

I mixed the ingredients together in a pot, but the first thing I noticed was that the starch didn’t dissolve. It started to form a thick paste instead. I turned the stove to low heat and waited to see what would happen.

As I stirred, the mixture started to look like pudding or hot cereal. I had originally used yellow food coloring, but decided to add some green so the dough would look less like food.

 The mixture never started to bubble, but started to firm up and become solid. It didn’t thicken much, so the recipe made half as much dough as I expected.

 I took it out of the pot and put it on a plate to cool. The texture was different from both the flour based playdough and the   cornstarch based playdough  that I had made before. It felt lighter and a little more oily (I don’t know whether this was because I used grapeseed oil or it was just how this recipe is) than I expected. It also crumbled slightly – it resembled “Cloud Dough”, a flour and oil mixture that's another interesting tactile sensory experience.

Even if it isn’t exactly like traditional playdough, it’s a good alternative for children who can’t play with wheat (or corn or soy) based products. And it’s another type of sensory and tactile material for children to experience.

Gluten Free Playdough

One of the basic staples in my classroom is playdough. I almost always have playdough, or a similar material available daily. I use a homemade cooked playdough recipe (more about that here), that’s flour based. One the downsides of homemade and many store bought playdoughs is that because of the flour, children who are gluten free or have a wheat allergy can’t use it, and in an allergen aware classroom, it might not be allowed.

So I tried out some different dough recipes that didn’t use flour. Many of them made different goop concoctions, which can be rich sensory activities, but they don’t have the same properties as playdough. Finally I found this one – a cooked recipe of cornstarch and baking soda. Even if you don’t have any restrictions that keep you from using a flour based dough, it’s nice to provide the children with materials that have various textures. This dough is slightly softer than traditional flour-based playdough, and feels cooler to the touch (similar to cornstarch goop), but holds up just as well during play and has a similar shelf life.

Here’s the recipe:

1 cup cornstarch

2 cups baking soda

1-1/4 cups cold water

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon food coloring

  

Mix all ingredients together over low heat until the dry ingredients all dissolve.

 Keep stirring for about 5 minutes until it starts to bubble.

Once it bubbles, it will start to thicken slowly. Keep stirring for another 2 or 3 minutes.

If you’ve ever made cornstarch goop, the mixture will have the same properties as it cooks, looking solid, then turning liquid when you try to pick it up.

Soon it will start to solidify. It will look like mashed potatoes or grits.

 When it turns solid and starts forming a ball, take it off the heat and let it cool. Store in a sealed container.