How to Make DIY Bright White Playdough: Plus 9 Mix-in Ideas
Are you looking for some winter fine motor activity ideas for your kids? Today I have some tips and tricks to help you make bright white playdough. It’s the perfect snow for snowman playdough activities, winter playdough trays, and wonderful playdough kits.
Playdough is so much fun for kids, and it’s a versatile tool for your fine motor skills toolbox. The sensory dough can help your kids build hand strength and eye-hand coordination. White playdough is perfect for the winter season.
Use the homemade playdough recipe to make your DIY snowy dough, and keep reading to find a bunch of ideas for creative mix-ins to make your white playdough extra special. Plus, I’ll share an idea that came to me while I was cooking some lasagna for my family.

Recipe for Snow White Playdough
Okay, first things first. Before you can mix cool things into your white playdough….you first have to make homemade play dough.
I started with my quick homade playdough recipe. If you make the recipe without adding any food coloring, you will get creamy-colored playdough. Follow the directions below with some added paint to help you get DIY playdough that is closer to pure white.
Here is what you need:
- 3 cups flour
- 3/4 cup salt
- 5 Tablespoons cream of tartar
- 3 cups water
- 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2-3 Tablespoons of white tempera paint
Directions
- Add the first 5 ingredients to a large pot. Stir them up and heat the pot over medium heat.
- As you are mixing everything together, mix in the tempera paint until you get the desired color.
- The mixture will look like a wet, globby mess. Keep stirring it over the heat and it will soon start to thicken.
- Remove it from the heat when the mixture forms a ball in the center of the pot.
- Place the ball on a lightly floured cutting board or cookie sheet and carefully knead the ball of play dough until it is smooth.
How to Mix it Up
To make the dough color brighter and whiter, I added white tempera paint as I stirred up the playdough. I find that the tempera that is NOT labeled washable provides better results for both art projects and playdough coloring. It seems to be packed with more pigment and will help you achieve a brighter white color.
I recommend adding 2-3 tablespoons of pure white paint to your dough ingredients and then adding more if needed. After kneading the snowy white dough on my countertop, I found that it had a nice, fluffy texture.
It reminded me of marshmallow fluff! The texture was seriously DELIGHTFUL and is perfect sensory play with little hands!
Store your white playdough in an airtight container or large ziploc bag so that it does not dry out.
How to Make Your DIY Playdough MORE Exciting
You can make your bright white play dough even more exciting by adding some mix-ins to it. Let your kids help mix the materials into the white playdough to give them some extra opportunities for building hand strength.
The mix-ins also provide a wonderful winter sensory experience. Here are some fun materials that you can add to your homemade white playdough.
Add Foil to Playdough
Sometimes, the ideas for activities that I share on this website hit me at the strangest times.
The other night I was inspired while cleaning up after a delicious New Years’ Eve dinner of lasagna. I grabbed the box of foil to cover the leftover lasagna. When I pulled the sheet of foil, I got a short piece….too small to cover my lasagna pan. While standing in my kitchen with the short piece of foil from the end of the roll, I began to think about mixing the foil into playdough.
I gave it a try…and it’s kind of a cool combination. I took the small sheet of foil and inserted it into our paper shredder. Out came wonderful little shreds of foil. I kneaded some of the shreds of foil into the dough and voila ….and an interesting new sensory experience.
Foil was quickly added to my grocery list…so I could continue to play and experiment with this fun material. I think it would also be really cool to use these foil shreds with black playdough.

Add Fake Snow to Playdough
Fake snow (you know…the kind that people sprinkle on their Christmas Village set-up) is great for many winter sensory activities. We mixed some of the snow with our white playdough, and it created a pretty sparkle and an interesting texture.

Make Glittery White Playdough
We moved from Ohio to Texas about 10 years ago. I certainly don’t miss the cold temperatures, slick roads, or the salt residue on my new shoes. But, every winter, I do miss the beauty of snow. I love how freshly fallen snow sparkles in the morning sunshine.
There is a fun way you can give your snow playdough a little bit of this effect. Mix in some glitter! Iridescent or blue glitter works well. A really fine glitter creates a beautiful sparkle and will be the perfect touch to a child’s snowman creation.

Additional Mix-in Ideas
In addition to shreds of foil, fake snow, and glitter, here are some additional fun loose parts or mix-ins to try with your white playdough.
- Tinsel – similar to my Christmas Playdough, use silver or white tinsel.
- Yarn or string – Cut small shreds of yarn or string and mix them in.
- Sand- Use white or blue sand to create a gritty texture.
- Foam balls – Shredd up some packing foam or get a bag of foam balls in the slime area of your craft store.
- Sequins – Sequins come in all shapes and sizes. Experiment and have fun.
- White or iridescent seed beads.
- Peppermint essential oil – Add a few drops of fragrant peppermint oil to create an additional sensory experience.

Now that you have mixed up a batch of winter white playdough and added some fun mix-ins, you are ready to add it to the fun activities in your learning centers. The dough is perfect to use with a winter playdough tray or to add a winter twist to the playdough mats in your math or literacy centers.

I am actually eating the last of the lasagna leftovers as I type this. Will more ideas hit me as I eat the last few bites? I hope so…and I’ll be sure to share them if they do.
I hope that you and your kids enjoy mixing up some wintery white playdough. Do you have additional ideas for fun mix-ins? I would love to hear about them.
Printable Activities for Winter Playdough
To purchase the playdough mats pictured in this post, click on the images below.
Do you prefer to purchase printables on Teachers Pay Teachers? You can also purchase the snowflake counting mats in my TPT store.