Playdough Fun

Playdough

We often get asked for our playdough recipe. Here’s one that we use regularly from the BBC!

You will need:
8 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp table salt
60ml warm water
food colouring
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Steps:
1. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix together the water, a few drops of food colouring and the oil.
2. Pour the coloured water into the flour mix and bring together with a spoon.
3. Dust a work surface with a little flour and turn out the dough. Knead together for a few minutes to form a smooth, pliable dough. If you want a more intense colour you can work in a few extra drops of food colouring.
4. Store in a plastic sandwich bag (squeeze out the air) in the fridge to keep it fresh.

Playdough at the Wigwam

We make playdough across all of our rooms and the children love it. The children are always keen to help make it and it is a great experience for them to learn how colours and textures can change, as well as to get messy and help the staff!

Once its made, the children have great fun exploring and seeing what shapes or patterns they can create. They often also use it in imaginary play, pretending that they are cooking, or building a volcano. We often add different smells to the dough by using mint/lemon essence, or different textures by adding rice, lentils and glitter.

Playdough can be a great way to develop young children’s fine motor skills as they manipulate it with their hands and fingers. We also sometimes enjoy taking part in ‘dough gym’ where each child has to manipulate their ball of play dough along to the beat of some music, or by following instructions of which way to roll or stretch the dough. Loads of great videos can be found by searching for ‘dough gym‘ on YouTube

We’d love to see your photos when you’ve tried this at home!

Sat 29th Jun