The SafeMama non-toxic play dough showdown

What is actually in Play-Doh?

This is the question the page exists to answer, so here is the honest version: nobody outside Hasbro has the recipe, and Hasbro is not going to publish it. What can be established comes from two places, and it is worth keeping them apart, because they are not the same kind of evidence.

What Hasbro itself says. Its own product pages state the compound is "made primarily with water, salt, and flour", carry the notice "Contains wheat", and label it "Non-Toxic. Conforms to: ASTM D-4236." That is the whole of the manufacturer's public disclosure. ASTM D-4236 is the US labeling standard for chronic health hazards in art materials — it means the formulation was reviewed by a toxicologist and needs no warning label. It is a real standard, and it is narrower than "we have told you what is in it."

What Hasbro's own patent says. US 6,713,624 B1, "Starch-based modeling compound," was filed in 2002 and issued in 2004 to Hasbro. It describes the compound by function rather than by brand name: roughly 20–50% water, 5–15% salt, 30–42% a starch-based binder, 2–4.5% a lubricant, plus a surfactant, a preservative, a retrogradation inhibitor to stop it going stiff, and up to 0.5% fragrance and 3.5% colorant. Mineral oil is listed as one acceptable lubricant, vegetable oil as another. Borax appears as one preservative option. One worked example uses FD&C Red No. 40 aluminum lake.

The caveat that matters more than any of it: a patent describes the space a formulation may occupy, not the tub on the shelf. It tells you the kinds of ingredient in play. It does not tell you what is in the can you bought this year, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.

Three claims circulate widely — including in an earlier version of this page — that the sources do not actually support, so we are correcting them here rather than repeating them:

• "Hasbro says it contains boric acid." Hasbro says no such thing. The patent names borax (sodium tetraborate) as one preservative option. Borax and boric acid are related but not the same compound, and an option in a patent is not a disclosed ingredient.
• "It contains petroleum-based additives." The word petroleum does not appear in the patent. Mineral oil is listed as one lubricant among alternatives that include vegetable oil.
• "It contains Red 40, Yellow 5 and Blue 1." Only Red 40 appears, in a single worked example in the patent. Yellow 5 and Blue 1 are not named anywhere in it, and Hasbro names no dye at all.

So should you let them play with it?

Honestly: it is not the worst thing your child could be playing with, and it is a better bet than the chemical-smelling slimes sitting next to it. It carries a non-toxic label backed by a real standard, and the amount a child actually ingests from tasting it once is not the thing to worry about — the salt content is a bigger practical issue for a dog that eats a whole tub than for the toddler who licked it.

The reasons to choose something else are narrower and worth naming plainly. It contains wheat, which settles it in a household managing a wheat or gluten allergy. And the fragrance and color are never disclosed, so if your reason for being here is that you would like to know what is in it, that particular question has no answer from the manufacturer — which is exactly why the rest of this page exists.

Why we did this

Cooler days, school breaks, and a child announcing boredom — a good moment for a play dough comparison, and an excuse to compile a list of the non-toxic options in one place.

The classic proprietary recipe is not public. Combine that with day-glow colors and the certainty that every toddler tastes it at least once, and the question answers itself. So we went hunting for retail alternatives that disclose their ingredients, and where possible had a three-year-old play with each for about a week. We rated pliability, texture, smell, color, price and fun factor.

What we tested

eco-kids Natural Plant Dye Modeling Dough. Made in the USA, no synthetic dyes — plant, vegetable and fruit extracts instead — and essential oils to keep the dough soft and smelling pleasant. Fun to play with and it kept our tester busy. Storage is essential with natural dough or it dries out quickly. It got a bit sticky after a while, but it did the job, and honestly, how long does any child play with dough before moving on? We like this company; we use their egg-coloring kits at Easter. We could not find it in our retail catalog at time of writing, so there is no link above — we would rather say that than point you at a dead listing.

The Dough Project. The first one we tested and a good time. It most closely resembled the texture and feel of the traditional stuff: bright, rich colors that stopped short of day-glow, a wide range in 1-ounce tubs, unscented but with a doughy, salty smell that was not overpowering. It lasted well with proper storage and stood up to repeated play, and the airtight plastic tubs did real work. The play sets with a wooden rolling pin and small cookie cutters made it more fun. As of 2025 The Dough Project is unfortunately on hold.

What we recommend now

Losing two of the originals is why this page gets re-checked against live availability. The picks above are what is currently purchasable and meets the same bar: published ingredients, plant-based color, and dough that survives a week of actual play.

Marie's Kids wheat-flour dough is the closest current match to the texture kids expect, and 12 colors covers a table of children — its own page states a single-ingredient dough, wheat flour with no other additives. ChildGen's set held up best to repeated play in our window, and the brand publishes a full list on its own site: wheat flour, water, salt, vegetable oil, food coloring, food flavoring and cream of tartar. The ChildGen mini cups are the same dough in the format that works for party bags and classrooms.

Hygloss is no longer among the picks above, and the reason is this page's own first rule. It is a perfectly reasonable dough — labeled non-toxic and conforming to ASTM D-4236 (a labeling practice, not a non-toxicity certification), made in the USA, and the 1lb tub is still the sensible buy if you want a pound of one color. But its published statement is a list of what the dough does not contain — no nuts, dairy, eggs, gelatin, latex or corn, and it does contain wheat — rather than a list of what it does. That is a free-from statement, not an ingredient list, and a page whose whole premise is "the brands willing to publish what they are made of" cannot rank a dough that has not. We would rather move it down here and tell you why than quietly keep it in a slot it does not qualify for.

One caveat on ChildGen worth stating, since we rank it: its own page now claims a CE mark and compliance with ASTM D-4236. A CE mark is a self-declaration, and ASTM D-4236 is an art-materials labeling standard. Neither is a CPSIA Children's Product Certificate, which is the third-party tested certificate a children's product sold in the US is required to hold, and we have not been able to confirm ChildGen holds one.

One constraint worth flagging above all: every pick on this page is wheat-flour based, which rules all of them out in a household or classroom managing a wheat or gluten allergy. We looked for a wheat-free dough to add and did not find one we could rank — the wheat-free brands we checked publish a free-from statement and no ingredient list, which is the same bar Hygloss just failed. So for a wheat-free household the honest recommendation is the second recipe below, where you control every ingredient yourself.

Make it instead

This costs pennies and beats most of what you can buy — and the measuring and mixing is half the activity.

Classic natural cooked play dough

• 1 cup all-purpose flour (organic if you like)
• ½ cup salt
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
• Color: beet, spinach or carrot juice for pink, green and orange — or a natural food coloring

Mix the flour, salt and oil in a medium saucepan. Add the water slowly, stirring to combine. Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously, until it thickens into a stiff dough. Turn it out, let it cool enough to handle, and knead until smooth. Store airtight.

If you want to color it properly, our natural food coloring guide covers which plant pigments survive heat — relevant here, because this recipe is cooked, and the anthocyanin colors (berry, red cabbage) fade where turmeric and beet hold.

Wheat-free version

Same method, and the one to use where wheat or gluten is the constraint. It is slightly less stretchy than the wheat version and every bit as good to play with.

• 1 cup white rice flour
• ½ cup cornstarch
• ½ cup salt
• 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Color: the same plant options as above

Whisk the dry ingredients together first — rice flour and cornstarch clump if you add water to them unmixed — then stir in the oil and water and cook exactly as above until it pulls away from the sides of the pan. Knead smooth once it is cool enough to handle.

Homemade dough lasts weeks rather than months. That is the trade for knowing exactly what is in it, and on a wheat-free table it is currently the only way to get both.