Are you a fan of playdough? We sure are! This fun, fantastic galaxy playdough recipe is out of this world!
Jump to:
💖 Why You'll Love This Craft
- Soft & Stretchy Texture: This recipe creates super soft, pliable dough that’s fun to squish, stretch, and mold.
- STEM Learning Bonus: A fun way to talk about planets, stars, and space while getting in some sensory play!
- Stores Well for Days: Keep it in an airtight container and your galaxy will stay squishy for plenty of play sessions.
Playdough Helps Children Learn
Playdough can help children develop several important skills, including:
- Fine motor skills: Squishing, rolling, and molding playdough can help improve hand strength and dexterity.
- Creativity and imagination: Playdough helps children create and imagine, promoting self-expression and problem-solving skills.
- Sensory development: Playdough can stimulate the sense of touch, helping kids learn about texture, temperature, and other sensory experiences.
- Cognitive development: Playdough activities can encourage children to learn about shapes, colors, and sizes, as well as counting, measuring, and other basic math concepts.
- Social-emotional skills: Playdough can also be a fun tool for children to play and interact with others, helping them develop social skills, such as sharing and cooperation.
DIY playdough is also great for teaching kids basic “cooking” skills such as measurements.
🎨 Supplies Needed
- 3 cups Flour
- 3 cups Water
- 1 ½ cups Salt
- 3 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
- 3 tsp. Cream of Tartar
- Food Colouring—blue, purple, turquoise
- Silver Glitter
- Tiny Gold or Silver Stars
RELATED POST: BEST PLAYDOUGH RECIPE AND BUG FOSSIL PLAYDOUGH
🖌️ How to Make Homemade Playdough
- Step 1: Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens and clumps together.
- Step 2: Remove the dough from the pan and split it into 3 pieces.
- Step 3: Color each piece of dough with one of the food colors. Mix it by hand until the color is all mixed in. You can use plastic disposable gloves, so your hands don’t get coloured.
- Step 4: To turn this into galaxy dough, gently mix each color of the playdough together so it looks swirled. Be careful not to overmix - you want to see all the colors swirled together.
MORE CRAFTS YOU MIGHT LIKE:
- KIDS PAPER KANGAROO CRAFT ACTIVITY
- NOAH'S ARK CRAFT USING POPSICLE STICKS
- PINK PIRATE PAPER BAG CRAFT
💡 Pro Tip: Add a small container of silver beads or metallic buttons to act as “space rocks,” offering extra sensory input and theme depth during play.
🧑🎨 Expert Tips
- Planet Molding: Guide kids to shape planets using different-sized balls of playdough, encouraging discussion about sizes and order in the solar system.
- Crater Creation: Use the end of a pencil or bottle cap to press small craters into playdough “moons” for added surface texture and visual learning.
- Space Tools: Offer cookie cutters shaped like stars, rockets, or circles so kids can form space objects while strengthening hand coordination naturally.
- Story Scene: Encourage children to build an imaginary space scene—planets, shooting stars, and asteroids—then describe what’s happening in their world.
- Moon Surface Base: Flatten a slab of playdough and let kids drive toy rovers or press footprints into it to simulate walking on the moon.
- Layered Galaxy Tray: Present three or more color swirls in a tray and let kids create paths or swirl zones, mimicking nebulae and interstellar movement.
💭 FAQs
Creating galaxy-themed playdough allows children to visualize celestial bodies. This hands-on activity fosters interest in space science.
Yes, modeling planets and stars with playdough aids in understanding their arrangement. It simplifies complex astronomical structures for young minds.
Absolutely, crafting elements like comets or asteroids sparks discussions about these phenomena. It enhances comprehension of dynamic space events.
Engaging in this craft stimulates curiosity about the cosmos. It motivates children to learn more about the universe's vastness and mysteries.
Easy Galaxy Playdough Recipe
Materials
- 3 cups Flour
- 3 cups Water
- 1 ½ cups Salt
- 3 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
- 3 tsp. Cream of Tartar
- Food Colouring—blue purple, turquoise
- Silver Glitter
- Tiny Gold or Silver Stars
Instructions
- Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until mixture thickens and clumps together.
- Remove the dough from the pan and split it into 3 pieces.
- Colour each piece of dough with one of the food colours.
- Mix it by hand until the colour is all mixed in.
- You can use plastic disposable gloves, so your hands don’t get coloured if you’d like.
- Mix/Knead each color of the playdough together so it looks swirled.
- Don’t overmix, you want to see all the colors swirled together.
- It’s all ready to play!
🖌️ Related Crafts
Love these crafts! Don't forget to pin them on Pinterest or leave a comment and let us know how you got on!
Did you make this craft? Leave a review and comment below! Alternatively, bookmark it in your browser or save to Pinterest.
Hi there! If I have a class of 30 and I want them each to have a small amount, how many times should I double this recipe? Looks so fun, thank you!
Hi,
I'd probably make 3 times the recipe but I cant say with 100% certainty that that will be enough.
Angela