This easy cornstarch playdough recipe adds a little water to baking soda, salt and cornstarch to make the coolest homemade sculpting clay. Making cornstarch playdough is cheap, easy and great for kids of all ages including older kids who might use the homemade play dough as sculpting clay. Make cornstarch clay at home or in the classroom!

Easy Cornstarch Playdough Recipe for Kids

Want a cheap, unique art project for your kids? Use our three ingredient cornstarch and baking soda playdough recipe to create cornstarch clay.

Related: Our most popular play dough recipe

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Ingredients Needed TO  MAKE CORNSTARCH CLAY

• 1/2 cup baking soda
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 2/3 cup salt
• 1 1/2 cup water

Video: HOW TO MAKE CORNSTARCH Playdough

Directions to Make Easy Playdough REcipe

Step 1

In a small saucepan, mix the baking soda & salt with 1/3 cup water and bring to a boil.

Step 2

In a small bowl, combine cornstarch & 1/4 cup water and stir well.

Step 3

When the salt mixture boils, remove it from the heat & add the cornstarch mixture.

Step 4

Stir vigorously for a minute or two to thicken the clay.

Step 5

Scoop onto a sheet of waxed paper & allow to cool before giving it to children to play with.

Step 6

The clay will air dry in a few days, so set them on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper to serve as a drying rack.

Our Experience Making Cornstarch Play Dough

This recipe make a small batch of clay, probably enough for 3 or 4 sculptures. If you’re entertaining more than a few kids or have a child with a big creative streak, I would double or triple the recipe.

Make Your Cornstarch Sculptures Extra Special 

To make your sculptures even more fun, look through the junk drawers & art supplies for things to stick on your sculptures for eyes, arms, antlers, buttons, etc. 

Google eyes, screws, luggage keys, sequins, soda can tabs, tiny nuts & bolts, buttons, paper clips…any tiny pieces would make great additions!

Safety Note:

**If using small pieces to decorate your sculptures with, this project is not appropriate for young children.**

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• This gingerbread playdough recipe or Christmas playdough is perfect for the holidays
• Make your own play dough sets with these DIY playdough toys
• Let’s make some fall playdough recipes like our pumpkin pie playdough
• Make shiny playdough or bedtime playdough
• And one of my favorite homemade playdoughs is Peeps playdough!
• Grab one of these fun playdough mats for learning and play
• We have over 30 playdough recipes and playdough activities for you to choose from!
• Check out all these fun clay crafts for kids!

Have you tried making these cornstarch playdough and sculptures? Let us know how it turned out in the comments!