Blogger / 17 March, 2025 / Nanny Anita

Naturally Dyed Play Dough Using Clovers

I don’t normally do anything for St Patrick’s day, but last year I noticed that the big flowerpots outside my home have lots of 3 leaved clovers in them (they aren’t supposed to be there).  The way my brain works is a mystery, even to me.  But looking at those made me think of 4 leaved clovers, which lead to me thinking about when I found a 5 leaved clover in Ireland at my boss’s parent’s house, which made me think of St Patrick, which ultimately made me think of making natural dyed play dough using clovers.  To me, that was a very logical thought sequence, according to others, it isn’t.

The problems I encountered were that the gardener was always pulling them up because the clovers aren’t meant to be there.  Plus, they only really start to grow in late spring and summer, which means there wouldn’t be there for March 17^th.  Being proactive I picked a whole bunch and put them in the freezer to use later.  Only to find that they had been throw out a few weeks later.  Thankfully, there was still time in the  summer season to wait for some more to grow back and to try again.  Which is where we are today.

Make sure you follow my seasonal craft board on Pinterest for more ideas.  Don’t forget to save the pin for later.

To make your own natural dyed play dough using clovers you will need:

• 1 cup of flour
• 1 cup of water
• ¼ cup of salt
• 2 tbsp cream of tartar
• 1 tbsp of oil
• Clovers

In one pan add some water and the cloves.  You will need to boil this until the water has turned green.  Fish out all the cloves and then keep the water as you will use that to make the play dough.

Add all the ingredients into another pan and mix together on a low heat.  Keep mixing until it starts to look like mash potato.  The dough comes away from the sides in one clump.  When it is like this take it out of the pan and kneed it into a smooth dough.  Do make sure you let it cool down before you do this step as it will be rather hot.

If you have any left-over cloves that haven’t been used to boil down, then you can add them to the play dough too.  Just be warned that adding flowers to play dough means that the play dough won’t last as long as they will rot.

Then simply set out the play dough with some rolling pins, cutters etc and you are good to go.

If you enjoyed this naturally dyed play dough using clovers, be sure to check out my other naturally dyed play dough.

Pin for later.