WHY PLAYDOUGH?
Why is play dough always so prevalent in pre-schools, kinders and playrooms? Why is it something that so many kids gravitate towards and explore?
Since introducing it to Aidan, at around 12 months, he has been infatuated with it. He will choose it over almost anything else.
From the very beginning he would immerse himself in dough-play and play his own way. It was amazing.
BUT WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
Most mummas know how fun play dough is but what are the actual benefits of it?
When I started listing the benefits it got a bit out of control so I am going to try and keep it simple and talk about what I think are the main ones;
- Coordination
- Hand strengthening
- Fine motor skills
- Therapeutic
- Imaginative and Creative play
- Language
- Sensory stimulation
Pretty amazing stuff!
The development of coordination, hand strength and fine motor skills assist children with feeding and dressing themselves, as well as future writing tasks.
Engaging with play dough encourages imaginative and creative play. Through this kind of play they are able to explore their minds and demonstrate understandings, developing their language, problem solving and emotional intelligence.
For one simple, cheap resource to do all this, and more, is pretty amazing!
WHAT ARE SOME SIMPLE ACTIVITIES?
Our main dough-play is pretty simple and it still hasn’t lost its appeal 5 years on!
Cookie cutters and rolling
Grab some simple cookie cutters and a rolling pin, let your little one stamp, roll and make impressions in the dough.
Mini Worlds
Grab some animal figurines or mini people, let them walk over the dough making impressions. Can they hide in the dough?
Cutting Dough
Dough scissors, or any blunt scissors, and a play knife provide great opportunities to practise cutting skills.
Worms and Balls
No accessories needed! Get those hands moving by making worms or dough balls. The worms can be made into shapes, the balls can be stacked or smashed. So many possibilities.
HOW DO YOU DOUGH?
This house is a splash of both. Splash of make our own and splash of buy some!
To make our own we use the recipe in our PLAY RECIPES deck, it is great to be able to make it ourselves and always have more on hand when we need. It's even better to embrace the whole experience and include the kids in the 'cooking'.
The recipe we use is no-cook, so it's very simple to make. It is also a massive bonus to know everything that is in it, so when some gets eaten it's kinda ok!
Make it yourself or buy it, it doesn’t matter in the end. Do what works for YOU and YOUR family. Either way, get dough into your daily routine, simply by having it on the shelf and showing your little ones that it is always an option!
Have you played with dough lately? Add the tag #theplaycard to your Instagram posts so I can check out what you have been up to!