Pumpkin Pie Spiced Playdough

We are fully and wholly in fall now and I’m honestly loving the crisp mornings and colorful trees. I’m not a huge fan of how early the sun has been setting here in Michigan recently and we just turned our heat on for the first time because it has been near freezing at night. Still, I’m embracing the change in seasons and trying to get in the spirit.

Today’s activity definitely helped me get excited about all things fall. The cozy smell and great texture made this playdough fun to make and play with! Also, this is by far my favorite playdough recipe, so you can save this recipe and use it without the pumpkin pie spice all year long.

homemade playdough with pumpkin pie spice

You know I love a good two-part activity! (See here, here, or here for other ideas that can fill some space in the day).

Here’s what you need

Flour
Salt. I bought the least expensive salt I could find at the grocery store, so you don’t need to splurge here.
Cream of tartar. I got a 2-pound bag a few months ago because I knew we would be making a lot of playdough and I use it to make my own baking powder due to food allergies. You don’t need a ton, so buy a smaller bag or container if you want.
Oil. I used the least expensive vegetable oil from the grocery store this time, but I’ve had success with canola oil and several other oils as well.
Food Coloring. I used this set so I could vary colors easily, but this set is always fantastic!
Pumpkin pie spice. I made my own blend, but you could also buy it premade from the store. I’ll share the recipe I used below.
Water
Utensils for cutting and rolling the playdough. We used a fork, knife, and a cup.
Pie tin- optional, but so fun! This set gives you a lot, but they would be useful for making real desserts as well.

Set up

3-10+ minutes, depending on how many batches you are making. I made 3 batches and got it done in 30 minutes with a 3-year-old helping me and washing dishes in between.

To make 1 batch of playdough you’ll need:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup table salt
2 tablespoon cream of tartar
1-3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup boiling water
food coloring

Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar, and pumpkin pie spice in a bowl. Add oil. Add boiling water and food coloring. (You can add food coloring into the boiling water first, but I just add it into the bowl after I add the water.) Mix everything very well with a spoon or spatula and then massage with your hands until no longer sticky. If your playdough is too sticky, add more flour. If it’s too dry, add more water.

Let the playdough cool completely and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

I got out a mini pie tin, fork, knife, and a cup to act as a makeshift rolling pin. This was a very entertaining activity and the smell was giving me severe pie cravings. You can do this all in one go, break it up for the morning and afternoon, or split it up over several days.

Clean up

1-3 minutes

Gather playdough and store in an airtight container.
Wash dishes or put in the dishwasher.
We always have stray playdough on the floor, so I wipe that up as well.

This playdough recipe is seriously the best. It’s soft and keeps for a long time if stored properly.

I let Vaila pick our colors, so they aren’t the traditional fall colors I had in mind. She was very proud of her selections, and I like to give the kids complete autonomy whenever I can. Although I sometimes want to make things “perfect” (what does that even mean?), I feel it is much more important for the kids to know that their opinion matters, so I don’t come in and re-do or fix what they have done. So sometimes we have Christmas dresses on in May and not my ideal playdough colors for these photos. In a month or a week will it really matter? No, but I’m playing the long game and trying to give opportunities to build their confidence.

We used mini pie tins to make pretend pumpkin and apple pie. This was a blast! We rolled, cut, and flattened our playdough for the different parts of the pie and ended up making 8 or more pies! You could use a larger pie tin, a glass pie plate, or honestly a regular plate if you don’t have a pie tin.

We made different colors of playdough and I experimented with different amounts of the pumpkin pie spice. I actually found my homemade blend from last year, so this was a perfect opportunity to use it up instead of throwing it away. It might have lost some of it’s potency, so you might not need to use as much as I did.

2 teaspoons of the pumpkin pie spice felt like not enough, 3 teaspoons was good, and 4 teaspoons didn’t give that much more aroma. Do what feels right for you. I did notice as slight difference in the playdough texture as I added more of the spice blend, but this playdough is still extremely soft. I can’t encourage you enough to make the original recipe (without the pumpkin pie spice) a different time. It’s also on my agenda to try with essential oils, but I thought more people would have pumpkin pie spice available at home, so that’s what we did for the blog.

I like to make my own pumpkin pie spice at the beginning of the fall season for all the muffins, cakes, pancakes, and playdough that we make. Here’s my recipe:

3 tablespoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons ground clove

I keep my in an old spice jar, glass container, or resealable plastic bag. That way it is handy when I want to use it and I don’t have to mix up a new batch every time I want to bake something.

This activity also encouraged some knife skills. I love practicing with real utensils whenever possible so the kids can increase their familiarity with our household items. Low stakes and a lot of supervision are my keys for early success that we can build on with repetition. This comes in handy now that they are 3 and 5 years old when I need help cutting ingredients for dinner.

This playdough is seriously dreamy and reignited my love of this season. The smell is so comforting and nostalgic. Comment below if you try this activity and share it with a friend who is looking for some fall inspired activities for the kids.