Before I made apple cinnamon play dough for the first time, I had no idea what I was missing out on.
I didn’t know that play dough could be so soft and pliable. That it could smell so sweet and spicy.
I didn’t know that my girls would love playing with apple cinnamon play dough so much that it would keep them happily entertained… for 40 whole minutes.
That’s a loooong time for a three-year-old and one-year-old!
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How to Make Apple Cinnamon Play Dough
This is the no-cook play dough recipe I remember making with my mom as a child.
For this fall-themed apple pie dramatic play, we used ground cinnamon to scent the play dough.
You will need
- 2.5 cups flour (plus a little extra for dusting)
- 1 cup fine salt (like table salt)
- 1.5 tablespoons of cream of tartar (food-safe powdered acid used in cooking and baking)
- 1.5 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2.5 cups of boiling water
- food coloring (we used the gel-based kind)
Boil the water.
Mix the first four ingredients together in a heat-proof bowl. Get a big whiff of that good, spicy cinnamon.
Pour the boiling water into the bowl with the dry ingredients, then add the vegetable oil.
Carefully mix the ingredients together until the dough begins to form. Let the dough cool off a bit.
Divide the dough into sections, dust your hands with flour, and knead in the food coloring. Be careful, as the dough will still be very warm.
If the dough is too sticky, coat your hands with flour. Then knead in a tablespoon more flour.
Adding ground cinnamon makes a lovely, natural tan color. We decided to keep half the dough natural as it looked the most like cookie dough, and the remaining half was divided into two and dyed red and green.
Store the play dough in an air-tight container.
Playing with Apple Cinnamon Play Dough
As this homemade dough is made with all taste-safe ingredients, I happily let both the 3-year-old and 15-month-old play with it all they wanted.
Lia, the 15-month-old, tried to lick the dough, but after a stern warning from Mom, she stopped and only tried to lick it one more time for the whole 30+ minutes the girls were playing.
Elena, the 3-year-old, really liked smelling the dough and liked the feel of it when it was still warm.
I hope I haven’t completely spoiled them so that they will only play with warm play dough from now on.
What We’re Learning
Making the dough together is a great sensory experience. Seeing the ingredients transform and become a new substance is a great way to introduce science to your toddler.
Playing with dough helps kids strengthen fine motor muscles and is terrific for imaginative play and language development.
We talked about what the dough smelled and felt like. I asked Elena to explain her process for making cookies and muffins.
We also talked about how to deal with frustration when the cookies and muffins didn’t turn out quite as she envisioned and pieces would fall off or get misshapen.
Your Turn to Make Cinnamon Play Dough
Talk to your kids as they play with play dough. Take the opportunity to introduce new vocabulary and talk about sequences of events (first you rolled the dough, then you cut out a circle).
Hope you enjoyed this play dough recipe. It’s really quite simple to make. Tomorrow, I’ll show you the dramatic play we did using our cinnamon play dough. Stay tuned!
Looking for an organized guide of fun, easy activities to do with your toddler that also encourages their growth and development?
I’ve created a 3-month activity planner just for busy parents like you! The plan includes 65 detailed, simple, and stress-free activities including: arts and crafts, sensory play, motor skills, and STEM–all using easy-to-find supplies.
Let me help make planning activities for your toddler easy, so you can skip the stress and get straight to the fun!