Gluten-free arts, crafts and home economics: play dough, flour dust and cooking lessons

Everyone thinks about school dinners, but no one thinks about arts and crafts. Yet the craft session is often where wheat flour appears most unexpectedly: in play dough, paste, pasta necklaces, and papier-mâché bowls. The good news is that for every one of these craft ideas, there’s a gluten-free version that works just as well. And usually, the whole class will enjoy it.

Why arts and crafts are an issue

Coeliac disease is an autoimmune condition. Gluten from wheat, barley, rye and malt damages the lining of the intestine, even without noticeable symptoms. Nothing is eaten during craft time. But children touch their mouths, chew on their pens, and then eat their lunch with the same hands. This is how gluten gets into the body, without a single bite.

This is not a reason to keep your child away from arts and crafts. It is a reason to talk to the teacher about which materials will be used during the school year, and to offer some alternatives instead of just saying ‘no’. Teachers are usually very happy to make a switch if someone does the research for them.

Play dough: the classic, and it almost always contains wheat

Homemade play dough is made from wheat flour, salt, oil and water in almost every standard recipe. And children have it on their fingers for hours. Shop-bought play dough also often contains wheat. Craft materials are not food, so they don’t have to list ingredients by the same rules. If there’s nothing on the packaging, the only way to know is to ask the manufacturer.

The simplest solution is the best one: gluten-free play dough for the whole group. It’s made in ten minutes, costs nothing extra, feels just the same, and no one has to be left out. You’ll find our recipe for it linked below. Just give a printout to the teacher.

Pasta, grains, paste, the easy swaps

For almost every grain-based craft material, there’s a gluten-free substitute that looks and feels the part:

• Pasta necklaces and pictures: Use rice or corn pasta instead of wheat pasta. They can be threaded and coloured just as easily.
• Collages and sensory bins: Rice, corn, dried beans, lentils, chickpeas, and popping corn are all naturally gluten-free and available in any supermarket. Wheat berries, semolina, couscous, spelt and bulgur are out.
• Flour paste: Mix with rice flour or cornflour and water instead of wheat flour. It binds just as well.
• Papier-mâché: Ready-made wallpaper paste based on methylcellulose contains no grains. A quick look at the ingredients on the packet is enough to check.
• Salt dough: The same problem as play dough. Just mix it with a gluten-free flour blend and it will be fine.

The important thing is to check the list of ingredients, not to look for a seal. Rice is rice, lentils are lentils. They don’t need a gluten-free label. A symbol like that is a handy shortcut for processed products and where wheat is also handled in the factory, but it’s not a requirement.

The underestimated issue: flour dust in the air

If flour is being used anywhere in the room, this is the one factor that people rarely think about. Flour dust stays in the air for a while and then settles on tables, chair backs, hands, pens, and on everything that is touched next. A child who had nothing to do with the flour can still get it on their fingers.

This can be managed with a few simple agreements:

• Your child should work at a distance from the flour station, ideally at a separate table, not next to it.
• Schedule the flour-based activity for the end of the lesson if possible, not the beginning.
• Open the windows, then wipe surfaces with a damp cloth instead of dusting or sweeping. Dry wiping just stirs the dust up again.
• Wash hands with soap and water before eating. Hand sanitiser does not remove gluten particles, but soap and water do.
• If a whole double lesson is planned using loose flour, it’s worth talking to the teacher beforehand. You can ask if it’s possible to do the activity without it.

Home Economics and Cooking Lessons

Cooking lessons are often the part that many children with coeliac disease love the most. And with a little advance notice, they can work really well. The key is to get the plan for the whole term in advance, instead of improvising week by week.

• Ask for the recipe plan. The school usually decides what will be cooked and baked early in the school year. With this list, you can calmly plan which recipes are already suitable (many are!) and which ones need adapting.
• Their own basic equipment. A separate chopping board, a mixing bowl, a wooden spoon and a labelled baking tin are all useful. Scratched wooden boards, sieves and toasters can’t be cleaned completely, so bringing your own equipment is easier than any discussion.
• A clean work surface and clean hands at the start are important. Baked goods should be in a covered, separate tin. Then they can be in a shared oven with a low risk of cross-contamination.
• Ingredients you provide or approve. Things run most smoothly if you provide your child’s flour, baking powder, stock, soy sauce or breadcrumbs. These are the usual stumbling blocks. The rest of the ingredients list is usually fine.
• Order of activities: If possible, your child should do their cooking first, before the group using wheat flour starts.

And if a recipe just can’t be adapted, no matter how hard you try? Then give your child a fun role to play. They could be the recipe manager, the photo documenter, the timekeeper, or a judge for the tasting with their own portion. Anything but sitting out on the sidelines. This is where you make the difference between ‘you’re doing something else’ and ‘you’re left out’.

The one sentence for the teacher

You don’t need to write a three-page email. A short, specific request works better:

“Hello Mrs [Teacher’s Name], [Child’s Name] has coeliac disease. It’s an autoimmune condition where even tiny amounts of gluten can damage the intestine. For lessons, this just means two things. Please try to avoid wheat flour on their table (in play dough, paste, or for baking). If it can’t be avoided, please let me know beforehand. I’m happy to bring in gluten-free play dough and suitable ingredients for the whole group, so it’s no extra work for you. Thank you very much!”

Two requests, one offer, and no blame. That’s usually all it takes.

The legal position

Rules differ by country and by school, and there is rarely a single rule on how to adapt teaching materials or cooking lessons for coeliac disease. In England, schools must make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions (Coeliac UK, checked 28 September 2026). In practice, arrangements are made through the school, the class teacher and, where necessary, a doctor’s certificate. This should be shared not just with the school office, but also with the relevant department and the kitchen staff. You can find out what is possible at your school by speaking directly to the school leadership. Coeliac UK has school packs and an individual healthcare plan template for this. For all medical questions, your paediatrician or GP is the right person to ask.

In a nutshell

• Play dough, salt dough and flour paste almost always contain wheat. The most elegant solution is a gluten-free version for the whole group.
• Rice, corn, beans and lentils can replace any grain-based craft material.
• Flour dust in the air is the overlooked issue. Keep a distance, open windows, wipe with a damp cloth, and wash hands.
• For cooking lessons, ask for the term plan in advance and provide your own equipment and ingredients.
• If a lesson can’t be adapted, give your child a fun role instead of leaving them out.

Further reading

For a complete overview of school life with coeliac disease, see our School Guide for Children with Coeliac Disease. The recipe that solves half the craft problem is at how to make gluten-free play dough. Find out about school meals, doctor’s notes and special provisions in Special Provisions & School Meals, for the younger years, check out Coeliac Disease at Nursery, and for the next children’s party, Gluten-Free Kids’ Parties can help. You can print our free information sheets for families and give them directly to the teacher.