3-Ingredient Shamrock Dough

This cloud-soft shamrock dough is stretchy, smooth, and soooo easy to make! Hair conditioner and cornstarch make the base for fun St. Patrick’s Day play.

My kids have been on a dough-playing kick lately — playdough, cloud dough, snow dough, you name it, they love it. I’ve found that we can get even more fun out of recipes by simply relabelling them with new and exciting names.

This shamrock dough, for instance, is just cloud dough with a St. Patrick’s Day theme. We added a little green food coloring to our already green conditioner (mmmmm… juicy green apple scented!), and threw a few gold sprinkles to make a version that every little leprechaun wanted to play with!

This dough is excellent at stretching, rolling, and being cut with cookie cutters. It does leave a slight residue on the surface you’re playing on, but it leaves your kids’ hands soft and hydrated!

What do I need?

Large Mixing Bowl: It always seems like you need a bigger bowl than you think. We use a 4 qt bowl, and that’s about right for one recipe, which was enough dough for my two kids.

Hair conditioner: Any brand, any type will work for this. We went to the dollar store and chose a green base so that we wouldn’t have to use as much food coloring to get that lovely green shamrock shade. Ours was Suave Juicy Green Apple Conditioner, and it worked like a charm, and smelled lovely to boot!

Cornstarch: This is what gives the dough its structure. You are going to use a ton — at least 2 cups, maybe even more depending on your climate (the wetter the weather, the more cornstarch you’ll need).

Food coloring: For anything my kids play with, I like these non-staining, non-toxic food colors*. They yield a bright, vibrant color, and don’t stain hand, clothes, or the table.

Glitter: This is optional, but my kids sure loved it! Consider a gold or a green (or both!) glitter for your shamrock dough. You will use quite a bit — we used almost an entire tube of this glitter* for one recipe’s worth of dough.

*Disclosure: this is an affiliate link. If you purchase something from this link, I will receive a portion of the profit. However, all opinions and recommendations are my own. I will only ever recommend something I love!

How do I make shamrock dough?

Start by measuring 1 cup of conditioner. Dump it into the bowl.
Add 2 cups of cornstarch to start. Mix with a wooden spoon or your hands until you start to see a dough form.
Knead while continuing to add cornstarch in 1/4 increments until the dough no longer sticks to your fingers.
Add food coloring and knead. Continue adding food coloring until the dough reaches your desired shade.
If you’re using glitter, make an indent in the center of the dough ball and add the glitter. Knead until the glitter is distributed throughout.
Your dough is ready to play!

Note: You can keep it for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container. This will vary by climate — if you’re in a very damp area, the dough will become wet and tacky quicker. You can add a bit of cornstarch to lengthen its life if that happens.