Rainy Day Fun: Play Dough Part 1: Play Materials

Play Dough is great for developing motor skills and strengthening hand muscles (which lends to the development of writing skills, cutting, the use of a variety of tools etc.)  It can ignite creativity, imaginary play and social skills (when children are working collaboratively on a project or sharing materials.)  Below we suggested a variety of things we have used with playdough at home, in playgroups and in school.  We would love to hear any suggestions you may have!

Materials

• Play dough (you can buy this commercially or make your own- see the Directions section for our favourite recipe)
• Clay boards or laminated placemats

Ideas for Items to Include in your Play:

From Left to Right, Top Row:

• Seasonal items (such as filler eggs, artificial Fall leaves etc. for different holidays)

• Vehicles (perfect for making tracks and imaginary play)

• Craft matchsticks (without the match heads, great for building, making impressions)

• Plastic jewels, glass rocks (great for digging out “treasures”)

• Science related items (such as plastic dinosaur bones that they can excavate)

Second Row Down

• Thematic items (we showed Space for example- with plastic stars, rockets, astronauts etc.)

• Plastic animals/figurines (you could do different groups- Farm, North American Forest, Rain Forest etc.)

• Glitter (we added this to our playdough for a space birthday party- simple and fun!)

• Playdough cutters (Again, you could sort into themes)

• Building blocks (fun for making impressions)

Third Row Down

• Dice (for making impressions)

• Spools and tape rolls (great for making impressions and circle cut-outs)

• Stamps (Your could use those that are images such as vehicles or letters)

• Craft eyes

• Marbles

• Paper clips

Bottom Row

• Construction items (washers, nuts etc.)

• Old keys (for making imprints)

• Rocks (you could use a variety of nature items such as twigs too)

• Sequins

• Craft gems

• Golf pegs (you might want to include plastic hammers)

From Left to Right, Top Row: (* starting with the third item as there was some overlap in the photograph)

• Clothes pins (just be careful of pinches!)

• Craft feathers

• Caps (from beverage jugs and cartons)

Second Row Down

• Popsicle sticks (great for building)

• Game (bingo) chips

• Chenille sticks

• Toothpicks (great for building, just watch out for pokes)

Third Row Down

• Craft foam (you could use shapes or cut your own- such as a carrot nose for a snow person)

• Scoops (great for imaginary play)

• Straws (good for construction or making 3-D shapes in math)

• Play coins (dig for “treasure” or create imprints)

Bottom Row

• Shells 

• Buttons 

• Beads

• Wood pieces

• Birthday candles (unlit of course!)

From left to right:

• Cooking and baking utensils (measuring spoons, garlic presses, icing tubes are great fun!)

• Beach toys (molds, shovels etc.)

• Silicon cupcake liners (you could do mini muffin tins, small pie plates etc.)

• Clay tools (you can purchase these at educational and art stores)

• Scissors

• Rolling pins

• Primary clay and playdough tools (bigger for easy gripping for smaller children)

• Candy/chocolate molds

Directions

Play Dough Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 salt
• 3 tbsp cream of tarter
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• Food colouring

Directions:

• Combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium pan.
• Add water and oil.
• Cook on medium heat.
• Stir continuously.
• When the dough mix pulls away from the sides and forms into a large ball, the dough is ready to be placed in a small bowl to cool.
• Store in a plastic container or re-sealable bag.

Source: Japer Place Child and Family Resource Centre

Safety Notes

• As the included play dough recipe involves a stove, an adult should make it. (An added bonus is that it is an excellent upper arm mini work-out!)
• Many of the suggested items to include in play can be choking hazards and are therefore not recommended for children 0-3 or those who tend to put things in their mouths.
• Encourage your children to wash their hands before playing with the play dough and remember to discard it regularly, making new batches.
• This dough is not designed for consumption.