How To Make Homemade Cinnamon Scented Playdough

Getting excited for the autumn season? Why not incorporate it into your kids’ sensory activities? This No-Cook Cinnamon Playdough Recipe takes only minutes to whip up but offers hours of fun during fall!

After a fun, hot summer, the transition to fall presents so many amazing things to look forward to. Besides warm days, cool nights, and beautiful colors, amazing aromas fill the air around us. It’s the perfect time of year to focus on a variety of sensory play activities for little hands!

In between doing a fall scavenger hunt or some fun Fall Crafts, how about a fun fall-themed sensory activity?

Unlike my OG Easy Homemade Playdough Recipe (which is awesome!), I wanted to make a fun fall-themed playdough for my kids. Cinnamon seemed like a great way to go to engage their sense of smell!

Whether you’re making a batch of playdough from my original recipe or this fun cinnamon scented playdough, be sure to grab my Free Alphabet Playdough Mats as a fun way to turn playdough into a learning activity.

One of the best things about this scented playdough recipe is that there’s no cooking involved! And it’s ready in just minutes!

Let’s make some cinnamon playdough!

Ingredients You’ll Need

• All-purpose flour – provides the base of this recipe.
• Salt – acts as a preservative to prevent mold growth.
• Cream of tartar – makes your playdough soft and moldable.
• Ground cinnamon – adds color and amazing fall aroma.
• Vegetable oil or Olive oil – helps bind playdough together and makes it soft.
• Hot Water – helps activate the other ingredients and binds the playdough together.

How To Make Cinnamon Scented Playdough 

Combine Dry Ingredients – In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, cream of tartar, and ground cinnamon.

Add Wet Ingredients – Add the oil and hot water to the bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until the ingredients begin to combine.

Knead the Dough – Knead the mixture with a spoon or your hands (careful – it may be hot) until it forms a perfect playdough consistency.

Expert Tips for Making and Using Cinnamon Playdough

Get the right texture – you want playdough that binds together but is very pliable and moldable. If your playdough is crumbly or too dry, add a tablespoon of water at a time. If your playdough is too runny, add a tablespoon of flour at a time.

Prevent mold – this recipe uses a lot of salt, which helps prevent mold from growing.

Avoid adding essential oils – I’m a huge fan of essential oils. However, cinnamon essential oil is considered a “hot oil,” which simply means that it can cause skin irritation. I recommend sticking with the ground cinnamon in this recipe rather than using (or adding) cinnamon essential oil.

NOTE: Always check any homemade play dough before reusing and discard if there is any sign of mold or if it smells “off.”

Use “Tools” – The way to maximize your own playdough as something that will keep your kiddo engaged for hours is to provide a few “tools” that they can use to engage their imagination and creativity. Think about letting your kids use a rolling pin or a few cookie cutters!

Scented Playdough Variations To Try

• Change colors – Use brown food coloring for a richer brown color, or use other colors to create different colors of playdough. 
• Change scents and flavors – Try adding ingredients such as cocoa powder to change the flavor or vanilla extract for a different scent. 

Make it gluten-free

If you want to make this scented playdough gluten-free, you can replace the regular all-purpose flour with white rice flour – it provides the perfect playdough texture.

Please don’t use a gluten-free all-purpose flour mix because it contains additional ingredients you don’t want.

Cinnamon Playdough Storage Tips

Store the finished playdough in an airtight container at room temperature.

NOTE: If you don’t use salt, please refrigerate your playdough because the salt acts as a preservative to prevent mold. I’ve made it both ways, and the texture is pretty much the same whether you include the salt or not.

How long will a batch last? You can keep using the same batch of cinnamon scented playdough until it is completely dried out. If you store it in an airtight container or bag, it should last weeks or even months.

Why use Cream of Tartar in playdough?

I like to use cream of tartar in my play dough recipes because it:

• Acts as a preservative to help your homemade play dough last longer. When stored in an airtight container or bag, homemade play dough can often last for several weeks!
• Makes your cinnamon playdough stretchy and more elastic, so it doesn’t break apart as easily.

Is cinnamon-scented playdough safe to eat?

This scented playdough may smell good enough to eat, but it’s not really meant to be eaten as food. Thanks to the large amount of salt, it probably doesn’t taste all that good anyway! If you’d like an edible playdough for young kiddos, check out my Nutella Edible Playdough.

This scented playdough is made with non-toxic ingredients, so if your kiddo sneaks a bite or puts their fingers in their mouth, they should be just fine. I do recommend supervising your kids when playing (especially younger children) if you have any concerns about them eating large amounts of playdough.

More Fall Fun!

• Fall Would You Rather questions
• Fall Handprint Tree Craft
• Free Cutting Practice Sheets For Fall
• Orange Glitter Fall Slime
• Fall Tree Apple Stamping Craft

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