How to Make Clay at Home – Quick and Easy Recipes

Kids with creative and curious minds will enjoy playing with clay. Instead of buying clay from the market, make your own safe and healthy version at home.

Homemade Clay Recipes

Here are some recipes for homemade clay for your child:

1. Modelling Clay

Here is the recipe for making modelling clay at home.

Ingredients

• Salt, 2 cups
• Water, 2/3 cup
• Cornstarch, 1 cup
• Cold water, ½ cup

How To Make

• In a saucepan, mix salt and water and allow to heat for about four to five minutes.
• Take the vessel off the stove and add cold water and corn-starch, mixing well until smooth.
• Place the saucepan back on the heat and allow it to cook until the mixture is thick.
• Once clay mixture is cool, your little one can shape it and play with it.

2. Bakers Clay

Here is a baked clay recipe that you can try out.

Ingredients

• Flour, 4 cups
• Salt, 1 cup
• Alum, 1 teaspoon
• Water, 1 ½ cups
• Food colouring

How To Make

• Mix alum, flour and salt in a bowl.
• If you want to colour your dough, you can mix in food colouring while kneading dough in batches.
• Mould your dough into the required shapes.
• Place the moulded dough on an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 121 D Celsius.
• Turn figures and bake for ninety minutes. You want the dough to have turned hard and completely dry.
• Remove from oven and cool it completely.
• Use fine sandpaper and smoothen out your figures.
• Decorate however you choose.

3. Bread Clay

Make clay at home with glue using this bread clay recipe.

Ingredients

• White bread, 6 slices, no crust
• White glue, 6 tablespoons
• Glycerine, 2 teaspoons
• Food colouring
• White glue and water, equal parts
• Acrylic paint

How To Make

• Combine glue, bread and glycerin and knead this mixture well. It should not be sticky.
• Portion them into smaller lumps and add different food colouring to each.
• Your child can make shapes out of clay.
• To give the sculpture a smoother appearance, brush it down with equal parts of glue and water.
• Leave it to dry overnight and then paint or varnish pieces.

4. No-bake Craft Clay

Here is how to make this no-bake clay recipe.

Ingredients

• Cornstarch, 1 cup
• Cold water, 1 ¼ cup
• Baking soda, 2 cups
• Food colouring

How To Make

• Add a few drops of food colouring to the water.
• Combine corn-starch with baking soda and water in a saucepan.
• Turn on medium heat and constantly stir until the mixture resembles mashed potatoes.
• Turn off the heat and upturn the mixture onto a plate.
• Cover it using a damp cloth until it has cooled down completely.
• Knead the dough until it smooths out.
• Shape it and allow sculptures to dry overnight before decorating with paint or varnish.

5. No-cook Play Dough Recipe

Here is how to make play dough at home.

Ingredients

• All-purpose flour, 2 cups
• Salt, 1 cup
• Cold water, 1 cup
• Baby oil, 1 tablespoon

How To Make

• Drop all the ingredients into a plastic Ziploc bag and seal it well.
• Let them knead the dough together inside.
• Once you knead the dough, you can take it out of the bag and have fun and make shapes out of it.

6. No-bake Cookie Clay

Here is how to make no-bake cookie clay.

Ingredients

• Salt, 2 cups
• Water, 2/3 cup
• Cornstarch, 1 cup
• Cold water, ½ cup

How To Make

• Mix salt and water in a pan and boil it until all the salt has dissolved.
• Turn off the heat and add the cornstarch and cold water.
• Stir until mixture is smooth and thick. If it is not thickening, try putting it on the heat again and stirring till it thickens.
• Use cornflour to dust a rolling pin and a clean surface.
• Roll out the dough and use cookie cutters to shape them.
• Use a straw if you want to make holes to put thread through to hang them later.
• Leave to dry overnight before decorating.

7. Flavoured Drink Mix Playdough

Here is how to make clay at home with flour.

Ingredients

• All-purpose flour, 2 ½ cups
• Salt, ½ cup
• Cream of tartar, 1 tablespoon
• Unsweetened flavoured drink mix, 2 packs

How To Make

• Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix it well.

8. Cold Porcelain Clay

Here is how to make this clay.

Ingredients

• White glue, 1 cup
• Cornstarch, 1 cup
• Vinegar or lemon juice
• Baby oil, 1 tablespoon

How To Make

• Put corn-starch in a pan.
• Add wet ingredients to the mix. Mix everything really well.
• Switch on heat and stir as mixture begins to heat.
• When mixture starts to come off the sides of the pan easily and it starts thickening, remove from stove and let the mixture cool completely.
• Move the dough onto a flat surface and knead it until it is smooth.
•  Add colour or glitter to your dough if you want. Put it into a Ziploc bag and seal it.
• Leave to cool overnight and then mould it the next day.

9. Homemade Polymer Clay

Here is how to make polymer clay at home.

Ingredients

• White glue, ¾ cup
• Cornstarch, 1 cup
• Mineral oil, 2 tablespoons
• Lemon juice, 1 tablespoon

How To Make

• Mix together the glue and cornstarch.
• Add in lemon juice and mineral oil and mix well.
• Over low heat, allow it to cook while stirring constantly.
• The mixture should resemble mashed potatoes.
• Remove the mixture from the heat and add a little more mineral oil to the top.
• When it cools to a temperature where it is hot but you can bear it, remove from the pot and knead immediately.
• Break off as much as you want to use and then put the rest in a Ziploc bag in the fridge.

10. Salt Based Clay

This is a simple recipe to make DIY clay at home without cornstarch.

Ingredients

• Flour, 1 cup
• Salt, 1 cup
• Warm water, ½ cup

How To Make

• Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
• Add in the water.
• Knead until the texture becomes like dough.
• Move the clay to a clean and flat surface.
• Roll out the dough and make shapes with it.

FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions about homemade clay:

1. How to Make Clay Soft If It Gets Hardened?

To soften the clay, add few drops of warm water and then knead it well. If this still does not help, your clay may be too dry, and you will not be able to reuse it.

2. What to Do If Clay Is Too Oily?

You can add more of either cornstarch or flour to the mix.

3. How Do You Dry Modelling Clay?

Most clay can be air dried, but there are some types that will need to be dried in the oven. All this will depend on the type of clay you want to use.

4. What Is the Difference Between Clay and Play Dough?

Play dough is much softer than modelling clay, and it is perfect for children who are two years and younger. Modelling clay is not as soft, but it holds its shape much better than play dough. This should be used for older children who really enjoy sculpting.

Help your kids enjoy the art of sculpting with these great homemade clay recipes.

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