Edible Marshmallow Play Dough

This marshmallow play dough has to be the EASIEST play dough recipe I’ve ever made. And the best part is that it’s completely safe to eat! It tastes sweet, but it doesn’t taste amazing or anything, so the kids (probably) won’t gobble it all up on you – or at least mine didn’t. They can squish it, roll it and stretch it, and have a little bit of fun taste testing it while they play! It kind of tastes like fondant icing. (I couldn’t help myself from having a bit of a taste test too!)

Now that the kids are on summer break I am SO EXCITED to start doing fun kids activities here on the blog again! We had a blast last summer making things like homemade puffy paint, dish soap silly putty and homemade gak. I tell you, there are hundreds of fun things you can make at home with the kids! If only there were more hours in a day! (And a maid to follow us around all day cleaning up our messes… wouldn’t that be amazing?! “Excuse me madam, here’s a cup of coffee for you…” Ah, now I’m dreaming…)

We haven’t played with play dough in ages around here. I usually find it really messy, especially with all the doo dads that come in the play dough kits. Not to mention the crumbs that fall on the floor and dry up and stick to the bottom of your feet. I hate that! My four year old will beg at least once a week to play with play dough, but I usually try to redirect her to something else.

I was a little nervous about this marshmallow play dough before we got started, but to tell you the truth, it wasn’t nearly as messy as I thought it was going to be!

It’s a very moldable ball after you make it, but it isn’t crumbly like play dough, so there weren’t any bits that fell onto the floor. It was kind of a cross between silly putty and play dough. The clean up was actually easy!

It’s a little bit greasy from the coconut oil and also a little sticky when it’s still warm. So make sure you’ve protected your table top before the kids play with it. We played with ours on sheets of parchment paper taped to the table and then on a silicone baking mat (it stayed in place much better than the paper), and the clean up was a breeze!

Check out our video on How to Make Marshmallow Play Dough:

If you liked this kids activity, here are some more you might want to try out!

Easy Microwave Playdough

Edible Frosting Play Dough

Shaving Cream Rain Clouds

How to Make Puffy Paint

Fluffy Slime

Edible Marshmallow Play Dough

The full printable recipe is at the bottom of this post, but here’s what you’ll need:

• Large Marshmallows
• Corn Starch
• Coconut Oil
• Neon Food Colouring

No flour. No cream of tartar. No cooking on the stove. It uses super simple ingredients. And I mean, come on, what kid doesn’t love marshmallows?! I was inspired by the recipes over at MomDot and Growing a Jewelled Rose.

Add the marshmallows, corn starch and coconut oil to a microwave safe bowl:

Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Then add the food colouring to the marshmallows or the oil. Don’t add it to the corn starch or you’ll have a harder time getting a consistent colour when you mix it together. (So ignore that I added it to the corn starch in my photos below. I learned from my mistake…)

See how the marshmallows puff up a little bit? The kids thought that was pretty cool!

Stir it with a spoon to get all of the ingredients combined.

When it gets too hard to stir with a spoon, you’ll need to use your hands to kneed it to finish the job. It might be hot from the microwave, so check the temperature before giving it to the kids to kneed.

My Suggestions:

I made a few batches of this marshmallow play dough, and I didn’t have any troubles. But if for some reason it isn’t working for you, here are my suggestions:

1. If it’s too sticky and doesn’t combine, try adding another heaping teaspoon of cornstarch to see if that helps.
2. If it’s still too sticky, add about 1/4 teaspoon of coconut oil, and squish it all together.
3. If it’s sticking to the kids hands, let them rub a bit of coconut oil on their hands. I found that once I did that, it didn’t stick to us at all.
4. It sticks to paper towel and doesn’t come off. Just saying.
5. Play with it on a non-stick surface, such as parchment paper taped to the table, or on a silicone baking mat.
6. If it gets a bit hard after 15-30 minutes just pop it in the microwave for up to 10 seconds to soften it up.

It was slightly harder than normal play dough, but it was also stretchier. It flattened out really easily on the parchment paper.

And then we were able to use play dough cutters to cut out shapes.

It was very moldable.

And stretchy. Doesn’t it look like silly putty here?

I took this next photo of all the colours stacked when we were done playing with it. I just thought it would make a pretty photo. But heads up, the different colours stick to each other pretty much instantly so I couldn’t separate them and they were pretty much stuck this way. haha Oops! I sliced through all the colours with a wet knife though, and the kids had fun playing with rainbow coloured strips.

My 18 month old was a big fan. He did a lot of taste testing for us.

My 6 year old had fun mixing everything together, but when it came time to get her hands dirty she lost interest.

My four year old, on the other hand, LOVED this stuff. She played with it for almost an hour while I did the dishes after supper last night. You can see how I greased up her hands a little bit to keep it from sticking to her. She thought it was great!

This marshmallow play dough was a huge hit with the kids! My 6 year old had a blast making it. My 4 year old had a blast playing with it. And my 18 month old had a blast taste testing it. There’s no cooking on the stove, so it’s a super easy recipe to get the kids to help out with. This is a great activity to add to your summer bucket list!

If you’re looking for more fun kids activities, here are some of our favourites:

Edible Frosting Play Dough

Shaving Cream Rain Clouds

How to Make Puffy Paint

Fluffy Slime

Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!

Where to buy:

You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:

Amazon  |  Barnes and Noble  |   Books- A- Million  |   Indiebound  |  Indigo  |  Amazon Canada