How to get playdough out of carpet (and clothes)

Step by step: how to get playdough out of carpet

1. 1

   Pick off the soft lumps

   Pull off any big pieces with your fingers and scrape the rest gently with a butter knife or plastic spoon, lifting up and away from the carpet. Do not press or rub, which mashes soft dough down to the backing. Stop once only a thin smear is left.

2. 2

   Let the rest dry completely

   Leave the smear alone for at least 2 hours, or overnight if it is thick. Playdough is a soft, water-based dough, and as it dries it shrinks and turns crumbly. You are ready when it feels hard and chalky to the touch.

3. 3

   Break it up with a stiff brush

   Scrub the dried dough with a stiff nylon brush in short strokes from several directions. It should crack and crumble out of the pile. On loop carpet, brush gently so you do not snag loops.

4. 4

   Vacuum the crumbs

   Vacuum the area slowly with the hose or a crevice tool, then brush again and vacuum a second time. Most small spills are gone at this point.

5. 5

   Dab the remaining film with rubbing alcohol

   Test rubbing alcohol in a hidden corner first. Then dampen a white cloth with it and dab the film; alcohol loosens dried dough and often turns it to a powder you can blot or vacuum away. Do not pour alcohol straight onto the carpet.

6. 6

   Wash out the last residue

   Mix 1/4 teaspoon of clear dish soap in 1 cup of cool water. Dab it on, work it in lightly with your fingertips, and blot with a clean white cloth until no more dough or color comes up. Use cool water only, since heat can set the dye.

7. 7

   Rinse, blot and dry

   Dab the spot with plain water and blot until the cloth stays clean, so no soap is left to attract dirt. Press a stack of dry white towels on the spot with a heavy object on top for an hour, then fluff the pile with your fingers.

What if the playdough left a color stain?

Treat leftover color as a food dye stain: blot with white vinegar, then a household cleaner, then rinse. Bright red, blue and purple dough are the colors most likely to leave a mark, especially on light carpet.

For synthetic carpet, the University of Georgia Extension stain guide for food coloring and other dyes says to dampen a cloth with full-strength white vinegar and sponge the spot, blot, then spray a general household cleaner and work it in with your fingers or an old toothbrush before rinsing with clear water. If a mark remains, its next step is a solution of 1 part clear (non-sudsy) ammonia to 4 parts water. Never use ammonia and bleach together, and do not use ammonia on wool.

Bane-Clene, which makes professional carpet cleaning products, gives the same order for Play-Doh: scrape up as much as possible, blot with alcohol to loosen it, then use a spotter and extraction, with a color stain remover only if a stain remains.

How to get playdough out of clothes

Let the dough dry on the fabric, brush it off, pretreat what is left, and wash in cool water. Check that the spot is gone before you put the item in the dryer.

• Leave the garment until the dough is hard, then flex the fabric and brush the crumbs off over a trash can.
• Rub a little liquid laundry detergent into the spot and let it sit 10 minutes.
• Wash on the warmest setting the care label allows, but use cool water if the dough was a strong red or blue, since heat can set dye.
• Air dry and check. Dryer heat can set a faint color stain for good. If color remains, see our guide on how to get dye out of clothes.

On wool sweaters, skip the brushing and rubbing. The Woolmark Company advises removing solids with a blunt knife or spoon, applying small amounts of treatment and blotting from the edge to the center.

What not to do with playdough on carpet

Do not soak it, steam it or scrub it while it is wet. Wet playdough behaves like paste, and water and heat drive it deeper into the fibers.

Soaking also wets the backing and pad, which can leave a ring as it dries. Shaw’s carpet care guide says to scrape solids first, always blot rather than rub, rinse with water to remove detergent residue, and weight towels over the spot to draw out moisture. The same rules apply to slime and putty; for those, see how to get slime out of a couch.

Mistakes to avoid

• Scrubbing fresh, soft dough, which grinds it deep into the pile.
• Pouring hot water on the spot, which can set the color.
• Running a steam cleaner over it before the dough is gone.
• Using bleach or a bleach pen on a colored spot, which leaves a pale patch.
• Putting a playdough-stained shirt in the dryer before checking the stain is gone.