The Benefits of Playing with Playdough
If you are familiar with our blog then you have probably noticed that we love to make and play with Playdough. The benefits of play dough play are numerous and kids of all ages have much to gain from engaging with play dough activities. So, why should our children play with play dough?
Benefits of Playdough Play:
1. Fine Motor Skill Development: great for strengthening muscle tone in little hands – squishing, squashing, rolling, flattening play dough all develop children’s muscles and encourage prewriting and other skills such as cutting with a scissors, using a tweezers, holding a pencil etc.
2. Calming and therapeutic: simply sitting and squashing and rolling a piece of playdough in your hand is a very calming and soothing activity. For years I have been giving children playdough “stress” balls in class as a way of easing tension, releasing extra energy, improving focus and concentration. Can be a great outlet for children to express their emotions
3. Creativity and imagination: the possibilities for playdough play are limitless – my kids love to create all sorts of things with playdough – some days they create monsters and aliens, on other occasions they have made cupcakes, pizzas, gardens, houses, Christmas decorations. I love to provide them with a wide variety of materials to use with the playdough, inspiring creativity and encouraging use of their imaginations.
4. Develops hand-eye co-ordination: by using a variety of materials and objects in playdough play can enhance hand-eye co-ordination.
5. Social skills: any activity where children are hands-on involved creates a fantastic opportunity for developing social skills. Playing with play dough in small groups and or with adults presents lots of possibilities for talk and discussion, playing collaboratively, problem solving and planning with others. Encourage your children to describe what they are doing while they play.
6. Literacy and Numeracy development: we have used playdough for a variety of literacy and numeracy activities – it’s a great fun way of involving children in literacy and numeracy activities, some of which you can see in our Prewriting Activities.
7. Promotes Play: allows children to be children, to slow down and play, using a range of their senses and skills.
Inspired to try a few Playdough activities? Why not explore some of our Playdough posts and give the activities a go? I have also included a few more sensory activities and recipes with similar benefits.
- Playdough Tool Kit
- Super Soft Colour Surprise Playdough
- Fun Pre Writing Activities
- Gloriously Green Playdough Recipe
- Fizzy Glittery Playdough / Gloop
- Cloud Dough with a Fizzy Surprise
- Foam Dough
- Ooey Gooey Slime
- Messy Play Madness – Gloop/Oobleck
- 5 Fantastic Messy Play Ideas
- Green Gloop/Oobleck Recipe
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- 1. Playdough Tool Kit
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- 2. Super Soft Colour Surprise Playdough
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- 3. Fun Pre-Writing Activities
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- 4. Gloriously Green St Patrick’s Day Play Dough Fun!
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- 5. Fizzy Playdough Fun
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- 6. Surprise Cloud Dough
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- 7. Foam Dough
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- 8. Ooey Gooey Slime
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- 9. Messy Play Madness
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- 10. 5 Fanatastic Messy Play Ideas
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- 11. Gloriously Green Gloop
What playdough fun have you been up to recently! Share your playdough ideas and links to your posts if you’re a blogger on our Facebook page – we love trying out new ideas!
Have fun!
Ciara x
PS – Looking for more Playdough ideas? Check out our Playdough Board on Pinterest plus all our other boards that are overflowing with lots of fun activities, tips and ideas!
Follow Our Little House in the Country’s board (Kids) Play Dough on Pinterest.
Our Little House in the Country 
We tried your fizzy cloud dough just last week and got, well, a little crazy. Since I know my girls well, I set us up on the driveway. We used Kool-aid powder for color, since we were out of food color. I let the kids mix up multiple small batches in varying consistencies and colors by adding the baby oil a little at a time. We loved playing with both really moist and gooey textures and very dry, sandy ones. When time came to add the vinegar, there was much excitement! The fizz was so fun, and we tried putting it on hands and feet while it fizzed! This somehow evolved into the girls making fizzy, gooey, colored puddles, “ice-skating” up and down the driveway in the fizzy goo, and making tons of hand and foot prints. In the end, we hosed down the driveway and ourselves ! What a great afternoon!
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Wow, that sounds like really great fun! Love it! Also love that by doing it outdoors the girls had the freedom to really play with it and get messy! Fantastic!
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A great roundup Ciara. Love the tips – although they’re all true – #8 is one people don’t often think about. When I sit with my son and play with him, we talk SO much. Words to describe all the things he’s making, and we talk about what we can make next, and we describe what we’re doing. Such a great literacy tool! Thanks for sharing with the Love to Learn Linky!
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Thanks again for sharing, what a fun activity! I am going to feature it tomorrow on the Love to Learn Linky party. I hope you come and link up again 🙂
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Hi Ciara. We are Kids Rhyme Box, specializing on Nursery Rhyme videos for young toddlers. Every Saturday we pick a mommy blogger and publish her post in our social media and this time (25th June) we are selecting your post on play dough for our little fans and their mommies. You can check us here @ http://www.kidsrhymebox.com
You can follow us & subscribe us too on You Tube- http://www.youtube.com/kidsrhymebox
Cheers
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Oh wow, thanks so much! 🙂
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I am a preschool director and would like to use your information to hand to parents. Would you allow this?
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Of course, please do.
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