Reference Materials

Electric Play Dough Recipes

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Fun with Circuits

Making circuits out of play dough is a fun and easy way to learn about electronics while adding light, sound, and motion to your artwork. The Electric Play Dough Kit available for purchase from our partner Home Science Tools contains all the electronics parts you need to get started building your own squishy circuits, but you will need to provide your own Play-Doh and modeling clay. The Play-Doh serves as a conductive material that electricity can pass through, while the modeling clay serves as an insulating material that stops the flow of electricity. Alternatively, you can follow the electric play dough recipes, below, to make your own conductive and insulating doughs. Whether you are a student looking for a science fair project, a teacher looking for a lesson plan to do with your students, or a parent looking for a fun at-home science activity, we have the perfect circuits adventure:

Making Electric Play Dough

Use these recipes if you want to make your own conductive and insulating play doughs.

Conductive Play Dough

Step	Ingredients	Procedure
1	1 cup (C.) water 1 C. flour ¼ C. salt 3 tablespoons (tbsp.) cream of tartar or 9 tbsp. lemon juice 1 tbsp. vegetable oil Optional: food coloring (a few drops)	Mix all the ingredients in a clean mixing bowl. Note that you are only including 1 C. of flour for now.
2	None in this step.	Transfer the mixture to a pot. Stir the mixture from step 1 continuously over medium heat until a dough ball forms.
3	½ C. flour	Turn off the stove. Carefully remove the pot from the heat and dump the play dough back into your mixing bowl. Wait several minutes for the mixture to cool. Once it has cooled down, knead (mix the dough with your hands) in additional flour until desired consistency is formed.

Table 1. Directions for making conductive play dough.

This video is a step-by-step tutorial on making the conductive play dough. It should help answer any questions you have about how to judge the consistency of your play dough at each step.

Insulating Play Dough

Step	Ingredients	Procedure
1	1 C. flour ½ C. sugar 3 tbsp. vegetable oil	Mix all the ingredients in a clean mixing bowl (especially if you used food coloring to make your conductive play dough). Note that you are only including 1 C. of flour for now.
2	½ C. deionized or distilled water	Slowly add small amounts of water as you continuously knead the dough. Do not add the whole 1/2 C. of water at once or your play dough may become too sticky. You might not need to use the whole ½ C.
3	½ C. flour	After a dough ball has formed, knead in additional flour to remove stickiness.

Table 2. Directions for making insulating play dough.

This video is a step-by-step tutorial on making the insulating play dough. It should help answer any questions you have about how to judge the consistency of your play dough at each step.

White powder is poured from a measuring cup into a metal mixing bowl

Image Credit: Sandra Slutz, Science Buddies / Science Buddies

Liquid from a measuring cup is added to white powder in a pot

Image Credit: Sandra Slutz, Science Buddies / Science Buddies

A wooden spoon is used to stir a green mixture in a pot

Image Credit: Sandra Slutz, Science Buddies / Science Buddies

A green clay ball in a pot

Image Credit: Sandra Slutz, Science Buddies / Science Buddies

Two hands knead green clay in a bowl

Image Credit: Sandra Slutz, Science Buddies / Science Buddies

An LED circuit made from conductive play dough, LEDs and a battery pack

Image Credit: Science Buddies

A lit LED connects the hands of two play dough figures that each have a lead of a battery pack inserted into their leg

Image Credit: Ben Finio, Science Buddies / Science Buddies
You can use your own home made play dough to make circuits.

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