The last time I tried to make play dough it was a disaster and I vowed never to make it again. It turned out way to sticky and stuck on everyones hands.EEKS!!!! I recently signed up to be play dough mom for February in my daughter’s pre school class and decided to give it another try. This time, instead of going through all the Pinterest posts and finding the best looking recipe, I consulted with an expert in this area…..one of my favorite pre school teachers I work with in the schools who has been making play dough for years-( recipe credit to Miss. Marty.) I was a little nervous, but it turned out great and was super easy. I have now been using this recipe ever since! Play dough is great for a variety of reasons: it works on hand strengthening, fine motor skills, messy play, and creative play. See some of my favorite play dough activity ideas below the recipe. No need to buy play dough again!!! Here’s what you need:
-2 cups water
-2 cups flour
-1 cup salt
-2 tablespoons canola or other clear oil
-1 teaspoon cream of tartar
-food coloring of your choice (about 5-8 drops of your favorite color depending on color you wish to create)
Put water and food coloring in pot and mix together, then add in other ingredients and cook on medium heat. Stir it constantly until it forms a ball and pulls away from bottom of pan when you are stirring it. Remove from pan and cool (I put mine on a piece of wax paper.) Once cooled you could add some glitter or essential oil for a little extra pazaz! Then store in sealed air tight container.
There are SO many fun ways to use playdough for hand strengthening and fine motor fun, here are a few activity ideas that I often use with my daughter and during OT sessions in the schools-
1.Cutting/Scissor Practice
Practice with cutting playdough is my favorite way to introduce early scissor skills in a play based way to my preschool aged kids. Roll the playdough into a “snake” and then practice snipping into smaller pieces, my kids LOVE this activity!
2.Use Cookie Cutters to Make Shapes and Seasonal Designs
I often use these with seasonal activities-I will make different colored playdough and use seasonal cookie cutters with my kiddos as a fun fine motor warm up. First roll out or squish the playdough and then use cookie cutters to make fun shapes.
3. Find Hidden Items in the Playdough
This is a great hand strengthening activity and kids love playing “treasure hunt.” I will often hide jems, pasta, or beads in the playdough for my kids to find.
4. Form Letters with Playdough
This is a fun pre writing activity I use with my preschoolers for pre writing skills. I often like to use letter cards and then have my kids build the letters with the playdough on top.
I hope you have found this recipe and activity ideas helpful!!! If you have any other activity ideas you like to use with play dough let me know, I’d love some new activity suggestions!
Kim Heyer OTR/L