Love play dough recipes that both feel soft and smell great? This cinnamon play dough recipe is easy to make, super soft and stretchy, and perfect for the autumn and Christmas seasons. Made with just a few common pantry ingredients, this play dough will keep your kids entertained for months!
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When it comes to sensory play, the more senses are involved, the better! And scented play dough is a wonderful way to engage your child’s sense of touch as well as their sense of smell.
This cinnamon-scented play dough has a super soft texture that your kids will love, and it can be reused for months if properly stored. Make it at the beginning of fall, over the Christmas holidays, or at any other time of year!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Soft and stretchy: This play dough has a soft, stretchy texture that makes it easy to flatten with rolling pins, cut with cookie cutters and mold into various shapes.
- Quick to make: Making your own cinnamon play dough at home couldn’t be easier! This recipe takes under 15 minutes to make, and once it’s ready, you’ll be able to reuse the play dough again and again.
- Long-lasting: This play dough will stay soft for months if properly stored, which makes it a great option for busy parents who don’t have a lot of time to prep activities.
- Awesome smell: The addition of cinnamon and vanilla will make your whole kitchen smell like Christmas every time your kids decide to take out this play dough!
Looking for more fall-themed sensory activities? Check out this Edible Pumpkin Play Dough, this Fall Spice Moon Sand or this big list of Fall Sensory Activities!
Or, if you’ve been searching for more activities to do over the Christmas holidays, you can try this Edible Candy Cane Slime, this Gingerbread Oobleck or this Edible Cranberry Play Dough.
Required Ingredients
- Flour: For this recipe, use regular all-purpose flour. If you need the play dough to be taste taste-safe, I recommend heat treating the flour first to kill any lingering bacteria.
- Salt: I used regular table salt. If you make a lot of play dough, you may want to consider buying it in bulk. We buy 3-packs of 1-kilogram boxes at Costco.
- Cream of tartar: This helps preserve the play dough and make it more elastic. Once again, we like to buy our cream of tartar in bulk to save money since we use it so often.
- Cinnamon: You can also use pumpkin pie spice for a fun fall twist. (Pumpkin pie spice is a blend that includes not only cinnamon, but also ginger, allspice, nutmeg and cloves.)
- Water: Clean, room temperature tap water is fine. Because this play dough is cooked on the stovetop, you don’t need to boil the water before using it.
- Vanilla extract: This is optional, but a nice touch. Artificial and pure vanilla extract can both work—just use whatever you have on hand. You can simply omit it if you don’t have any or don’t want to use it.
- Oil: Any type of oil will do, including vegetable oil, olive oil or melted coconut oil. I usually use vegetable oil because it’s cheaper.
The full ingredient list, quantities and instructions can be found in the recipe card.
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How to Make Cinnamon Play Dough (Step-by-Step)
Step 1: Combine dry ingredients. Pour the flour, salt, cream of tartar and cinnamon into a medium wok or large saucepan and stir with a wooden spoon until combined.
Step 2: Add wet ingredients. Use the wooden spoon to stir in the water, vanilla extract and oil.
Step 3: Cook dough. Cook on medium heat for a few minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes a ball of dough that no longer sticks to the sides of the wok. Set aside to cool.
Step 4: Knead until smooth. Once the dough has cooled enough to be handled, knead it with your hands until smooth and elastic.
This play dough feels super soft, and it is really easy to flatten with a rolling pin. My kids had fun taking out cookie cutters and using them to make cinnamon-scented “cookies” to play with!
Helpful Tips
- Choose to right saucepan: You’ll be cooking the play dough in the same saucepan where you combine the dry ingredients, so make sure it’s big enough to accommodate the wet ingredients as well.
- Don’t overcook the dough: For best results, remove the saucepan from heat as soon as the dough seems dry and forms a ball that no longer sticks to the surface of the pan. (You can always cook it for a bit longer if it feels too sticky after kneading.)
- Knead the dough while warm: After you take it off the element, let the dough cool for a couple minutes to avoid burning your hands, then knead it right away. Do not place it in the fridge or freezer to speed up the cooling process, as this may cause the play dough to become stiffer and less elastic.
- Adjust the consistency: If you aren’t satisfied with the texture of the play dough after following all the steps, you can always tweak its consistency by cooking it longer and/or adding a bit more flour (if it feels too sticky), or by adding a bit more water or oil (if it feels too dry).
Storage Instructions
To store this play dough once your child is done playing with it, place it in a sealed zip-top bag with all the air removed and keep it at room temperature until they are ready to play again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Have a question that wasn’t answered here? Let me know in the comments and I’ll be happy to help!
More Scented Play Dough Recipes
If you have tried this Cinnamon Vanilla Play Dough or any other recipe on my website, please let me know how it went in the comments below. I can’t wait to hear from you!
Cinnamon Play Dough
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup salt
- 4 tsp cream of tartar
- 2 tbsp cinnamon or pumpkin spice
- 2 cups water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract optional
- 2 tbsp oil (vegetable, coconut, etc.)
Instructions
- Pour the flour, salt, cream of tartar and cinnamon into a large saucepan or medium wok, and stir with a wooden spoon until combined.
- Stir in the water, oil and vanilla extract.
- Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes a ball of dough that no longer sticks to the sides of the saucepan. (This should only take a few minutes.)
- Set the play dough aside to cool. Once the dough has cooled enough to be handled, knead it with your hands until smooth and elastic.
Video
Notes
- Don’t overcook the dough: The dough is ready to remove from the heat as soon as it looks dry and stops sticking to the sides of the pan.
- Knead the dough while warm: Knead the dough as soon as it is cool enough to handle, and do not place it in the fridge or freezer to speed up the cooling process.
- Adjust the consistency: If needed, you can add a bit more flour (if the dough is sticky), or a bit more water or oil (if the dough is stiff) to reach the perfect consistency.
Nutrition
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Wonderful recipe! Directions were easy to follow and the play-dough smells great and has kept really well.
I am so glad to hear that!! 🥰
Just made this with my kids and added pumpkin spice instead of cinnamon and it was so easy, quick, and non toxic! Highly recommend! 🙂
Thanks for sharing, I am so glad you enjoyed it!! Pumpkin spice is a great alternative to cinnamon!
Good morning…I was wondering if this could be dried and used for Christmas tree ornaments?
You *may* be able to do that, but I’ve never tried it and I imagine the texture might be a little off since this is meant to be used as play dough. That being said, if you look up “cinnamon applesauce ornaments” or “cinnamon salt dough recipe”, you’ll definitely find something you can use for Christmas ornaments!