Young children love to play with dough. And no wonder! They can squish and pound it and form it into fascinating shapes. Today we’ll learn how to make playdough, an activity kids will absolutely love!
Helping to make play dough through a step by step recipe helps children learn how to follow directions, how to count and measure. It can also teach them how things change with certain actions. What Should I Make?
How To Make Playdough
What You Need
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup salt
- 4 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- Food coloring
- Essential oils (I LOVE using lavender oil to help calm my little ones) or food extracts, such as almond, vanilla, lemon or peppermint
- Saucepan
- Objects to stick in the dough, such as Popsicle sticks and straws
- Something to pound with, such as a toy mallet
- Objects to make impressions with, such as jar lids, cookie cutters and bottle caps
What To Do
- To make play dough:
- Add the food coloring to the water. Then add and mix all of the ingredients together in a pan.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring until it forms a soft ball.
- Let the mixture cool. Knead slightly. Add essential oils or food extracts to different chunks of the dough to make different smells.
- Talk with your child about what you are doing as you make the dough. Let your toddler or preschooler help you with measuring and adding ingredients.
- Let your child handle some dough while it is still slightly warm and some when it has cooled off to teach him about temperatures.
Give some of the dough to your toddler or preschooler so she can pound it, stick things in it, make impressions in it and make her own animals, houses and people from it.
And if you’re looking for ways to use your newly made play-doh, check out what to do with play doh.
Play Dough Ready For Fun!
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