Playdough - A World of Imagination. Fail Safe Recipe included.
November 2024
2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 tablespoons cream of tartar or baking soda
2 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon food colouring and or essence
Instructions:
1. Mix all the dry ingredients together.
2. Add the oil, boiling water, food colouring and essence and mix really well.
3. The mixture may seem quite wet to start with but it will soon begin to dry out.
4. Once the mixture has cooled but is still warm, lightly flour the work surface and knead the playdough until it is soft and free of lumps. Older children enjoy this stage, and it can be quite satisfying for them to knead the lumpy dough into a smooth consistent colour and texture. Be prepared for them to not work it completely and to finish the kneading process before you put it away for the day.
5. Store it in an airtight container or resealable bag when not in use to keep it fresh and prevent drying out.
You’ve already added colour (sight) and maybe essence (smell) and the dough itself is touch.
Add tools like cutters, plastic knives and rolling pins, and little bowls of things to add to their creations like glitter, beads, buttons and shells.
Now try adding to those experiences. Some ideas could be:
Colour blending - make two colours of play dough such as yellow and blue, place them on the table and ask the children to play with them together. Talk to them about the colours mixing, ask them what the two colours might become and then discuss the result. Notice the marbling while the colours are still distinct but intermixed.
Dino Dig – dinos to the rescue. Mound your playdough with your dinosaurs hidden inside. Give the children whatever tools (or hands) you or they might like for the dig and start digging. You can talk about fossils and how they are found while you are digging. Wonder what they might find next. Which dinosaur could it be before you can see it properly. It could be a treasure hunt instead looking for shaped blocks or shells or “treasures” of any kind.
Go into the garden or visit a nearby park and gather leaves, twigs, flowers and petals, acorns and anything else interesting. Then encourage the children to decorate the playdough. Talk to them about what they are creating, what do they imagine it to be? This is a good activity when the playdough is getting old and nearly time to compost.
Adding interest & imagination to your playdough tools:
Diggers, dumpers and excavators – now it’s a construction site. What are you making/building? Who will live there? What will you find in the dough as you dig?
Biscuit cutters, muffin tins, small cake tins, baking trays – now it’s baking & cooking. Ask what they are making? Who did they make it for?
