The Wonderful World of Playdough

The malleable properties of playdough make it fun for investigation and exploration as well as secretly building up strength in all the tiny little hand muscles and tendons, making them ready for pencil and scissor control later on. As part of simple, tactile play it can be squashed, squeezed, rolled, flattened, chopped, cut, scored, raked, punctured, poked, shredded and much much more! Each one of these different actions aids fine motor development in a different way, not to mention hand-eye co ordination and general concentration. And as soon as you add another element to it, the list of benefits and creative play ideas will flow and grow.

Here’s what you will need to make some fabulous playdough:

1 cup of water
1 tablespoon oil
½ cup salt
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
Colouring – herbal tea/cocoa/lavender/curry powder etc
Saucepan and spatula
1 cup of flour

Combine water, oil, salt, cream of tartar, and your choice of colouring in a saucepan and heat until warm.
Remove from heat and stir in the flour.
Stir until it comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a ball. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead with your hands until smooth – go careful as it will be hot!
Once cooled, the dough can be stored in an airtight container or food bag for up to 3 months.

By providing objects from nature with a wide range of textures, colours and shapes, children can have multi-sensory experiences and engage with the world around them in a whole new way.