CPC for play dough and modeling compounds

Play dough and modeling compounds designed or marketed to children 12 and under are children’s products: they need third-party testing at a CPSC-accepted laboratory and a Children’s Product Certificate citing LHAMA, lead, and children’s-product rules, plus tracking labels on the product and packaging. The importer or US manufacturer issues the CPC — marketplaces can request it at any time.

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Which rules apply to play dough and modeling compounds The testing and certification path

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Which rules apply to play dough and modeling compounds

Modeling dough for children needs LHAMA chronic-hazard evaluation for art materials plus lead/heavy-metal screening and packaging warnings.
CPSIA section 101 total lead content in accessible substrate materials.
16 CFR part 1303 lead in paint and surface coatings where painted or coated.
CPSIA section 103 tracking labels: manufacturer, location, and date of manufacture on product and packaging.

The testing and certification path

Recipe chemistry, colorants, drying behavior, and LHAMA labeling. Scented doughs add fragrance review.

Book testing at a laboratory that is CPSC-accepted for each rule, issue the CPC in your own name citing the rules your report supports, and keep the certificate with its test report for at least five years. Marketplaces ask for the pair, not the certificate alone.

Questions people ask

Is play dough a toy or an art material?

Often both contexts apply. Labs commonly run toy-adjacent and LHAMA evaluations — get the scope in writing.

Do dry mixes need the same testing as ready dough?

Test the product as sold and as used after mixing if that is the intended form.

CPC for play dough and modeling compounds

Which rules apply to play dough and modeling compounds

The testing and certification path

Questions people ask

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