# Rose Scented Playdough
> Mix a basic boiling-water playdough with rose fragrance oil, rose water and glycerin, and red food coloring for a bright, very fragrant Valentine's dough. Kids roll it, cut hearts and flowers, and decorate them with sequins, sprinkles and dot stickers.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/valentines-day-activities-rose-scented-playdough/
- Ages: 3–6 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: medium
- Time: prep 20 min, activity 30 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group, whole class · one batch serves about 3 kids
- Skills: fine-motor, sensory-exploration, hand-eye-coordination, pretend-play
- Cautions: wheat-gluten, food-dye, ingestion-risk

## Materials (one batch)
- 2 cup All-purpose flour
- 1 cup Salt
- 2 tbsp Cream of tartar
- 2 tbsp Rose fragrance oil (or rose scented body oil)
- 1.5 cup Boiling water (household)
- Red food coloring
- 1 tbsp Rose water and glycerin (optional)
- 1 piece Mixing bowl (household)
- 1 piece Sturdy spoon for mixing (household)
- Plastic heart and flower cookie cutters
- 1 piece Rolling pin (household)
- Sequins, glitter and sprinkles (optional)
- Cake pop sticks (optional)
- Dot stickers or bindis (optional)

## Substitutions
- Instead of rose oil: Vegetable oil (TurkeyMom's advice for kids who still put things in their mouths. You lose the rose scent.)

## Safety
- Adult handles the boiling water and mixes the dough. Let it cool before kids knead it.
- If a child still puts things in their mouth, TurkeyMom says to use only vegetable oil, not rose fragrance or body oil.
- Homemade playdough is very salty and not food. Don't let kids eat it, even though it smells sweet and is decorated with sprinkles.
- Sequins, sprinkles, glitter, bindis and dot stickers are small parts and a choking hazard. Supervise closely.
- Fragrance and body oils can irritate sensitive skin. Wash hands after play.
- Cake pop sticks can poke. Supervise and keep sticks away from faces.

## Before you start
- Make the playdough and let it cool completely before kids arrive.
- For pink and red dough, make two batches or divide the dough and color each part separately.
- Set out an invitation to play with cutters, a rolling pin, sequins, sprinkles and sticks.

## Steps
1. Put the flour, salt, cream of tartar, food coloring, rose water and glycerin, and 1 1/2 tbsp of rose oil in a bowl.
2. Adult: pour in boiling water a little at a time, up to 1 1/2 cups, and mix.
3. Once it's cool enough to touch, knead until you get the consistency you want.
4. Knead in the last 1/2 tbsp of rose oil to keep the fragrance. Blot it if it feels too oily.
5. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin.
6. Cut out hearts and flowers with the cookie cutters.
7. Decorate the shapes with sequins, glitter and sprinkles.
8. Push a cake pop stick into a heart to make a cookie pop.
9. Peel dot stickers and press them onto a flower shape.
10. Set out all your creations for a play dough party.

## Tips
- We tried 3 versions. Rose water alone smells fantastic at first, but the scent dwindles away once the hot water goes in. Rose oil alone is present but not strong enough. Rose water and glycerin plus rose body oil is the winner.
- Hold back 1/2 tbsp of the rose oil and knead it in at the end to keep the fragrance. If that feels too oily, blot it off or just add all the oil at the beginning.
- Vary the rose oil to your preference. I didn't want it to be too overpowering.
- Anything less than perfect to my 4 yr old goes right back into a ball for another try. That's the beauty of play dough.
- According to my preschooler these are cookie pops, not cake pops, because cake pops have got to be round.
- This is a great start to playing bakery or store.
- A reader liked the idea of adding scented oil because the smell of plain homemade playdough isn't her favorite. (from readers)

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2013)

This rose playdough smells great and needs just one additional ingredient to go in your playdough mix. { Access all our [**Valentine's day activities for kids**](Valentines) and other hearts activities here} In order to keep my pre schooler occupied while I took care of my baby I find myself busting out the old [**play dough**](https://www.funlittles.com/category/play-doh/) time and again. To sustain the fleeting interests of young minds, I shook things up with a fun rose fragrance to make play dough play even more exciting. Snow is great and all but we here in Mid West have way too much of it and I wanted something cheery. Thus was born our new Valentines Day activity : Bright, cheerful, colorful, extremely fragrant ROSE PLAY DOUGH. Stay tuned for more exciting Valentines day activities here on the blog. There are numerous play dough recipes out there and we used a basic one. Here is our recipe for our Rose Scented Valentine's play dough

- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup salt
- 2 tbsp **[Rose Fragrance Oil](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IHALAX6/?tag=blmemo-20)**
( vary according to your preference, I didn't want it to be too overpowering)
- 2 tbsp cream of tartar
- Upto 1 1/2 cups boiling water
- Few drops of red food coloring
- 1 tbsp rose water+glycerin ( optional, vary it according to your preference)

I found the rose+water glycerin at a drug store next to the regular glycerin. Rose scented body oil was found at the same place as well. You can also try online retailers like Amazon. Here is a link for your reference. Combine all the ingredients except water and 1/2 tbsp of rose oil. Add in the water and mix and knead. Once you get your desired consistency finally add the 1/2 tbsp of oil to keep the fragrance. If you feel it is too oily, blot off or just add the entire rose oil at the beginning.



### We tried 3 versions and here are our findings

If just rose water is added, the fragrance is fantastic at the beginning and once the hot water is added or the cooking has begun, the fragrance slowly but surely dwindles away. If just the rose oil is added fragrance is present but not strong enough. Add some rose water+glycerin combination along with rose body oil you got yourself a winner.

This is how we played

- Heart and flower shaped cookie cutters
- Rose Scented Play dough
- Rolling pin
- Sequins, glitters and accessories

With plastic heart and flower shaped cookie cutters, sequins, glitter, sprinkles and cake pops sticks we were armed with accessories to enjoy the triple [sensory activity.](https://www.funlittles.com/category/sensory-bins/) The fragrance from the rose oil was wonderful.



Big S had a great time rolling the dough, cutting out the shapes and decorating them with sequins and sprinkles. While she was busy having fun, she was working on her fine motor skills: hand-eye co-ordination, strengths finger muscles with all the rolling, squishing and decorating.



We made wonderful, fragrant cookie pops and cupid hearts for an awesome play dough party! This is a great start to begin playing bakery or store. Check out how we have played with [bakery](https://www.funlittles.com/lets-start-a-bakery/), [tiered cakes](https://www.funlittles.com/cake-mania-with-play-doh/) and [model magic cupcake](https://www.funlittles.com/make-your-own-play-food/)s in the past.



What I love about play dough is the endless possibilities of crafting and decorating. Anything less than perfect to my 4 yr old, she goes right back into a ball for another try. Oh! by the way what we made were cookie pops and not cake pops according to my pre schooler because cake pops have got to be round.



For some extra fine motor fun, decorating with sequins and glitter were always available. This time we did another activity to strengthen those finger muscles. We used bindis/dot stickers to decorate a flower play dough.

 Now who wouldn't want this at a Valentines day party?



### Here are all our creations which involved tons of sensory exploration rather sensory explosion.



Edit: If the kid is still puts things in his/her mouth, please refrain from using anything but vegetable oil. Both my kids have outgrown that stage so we are in a position to experiment with various scents and additions to home made play dough.

Pretty pink play dough play not your thing? Check out an equally fun play dough play with [power tools here.](https://www.funlittles.com/playdough-play/)

[](https://www.funlittles.com/playdough-play/)

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