Below I have listed 10 activity ideas that can be used to extend the interests and benefits of playdough.
2. Make letters and words with playdough
3. Make a birthday cake. Use matchstix for candles. Count the matchstix. Cut the cake in half and quarters.4. Roll out sausages. Use a blunt knife and fork to cut the sausages.
5. Use playdough with patty pans, muffin trays, rolling pins, cookie cutters. You can even add a flour shaker for some extra cooking fun!
6. Add objects of interest (e.g. dinosaurs, farm animals, cars etc)
7. Place number cards on the table. Children roll balls of dough and place the correct number on the corresponding number card.
Playdough with number cards |
Playdough with number cards |
8. Mix play dough colours i.e.
- Red dough + blue dough = purple dough
- Red dough + yellow dough = orange dough
- Blue dough + yellow dough = green dough
- Mix all colours together = rainbow/brown colour dough (see spaghetti image below!)
10. Add flowers, rice, glitter, essential oils or any other sensory object. Let children squish, poke, roll, pound and manipulate the dough with their fingers and see where their imagination takes them.
These activities will not only develop children's fine motor abilities, but will also enhance their creativity, imagination, literacy and numeracy concepts.