Playdough is a classic kid’s toy, and it is so great for learning and developing motor skills. It gives you another way to introduce material, from forming letters and numbers to learning colors and just making fun pieces of art. Pinching, rolling, and other manual skills can be developed by playing with playdough, too!
You can buy playdough or make your own (this was our favorite recipe back in the day). And if you’re looking for more fun adds in and recipes, check out this post from Stay at Home Educator. Here are some fun — and educational! — ways to use it.
Playdough mats are a classic and you can find them on just about any theme. Here are a few educational playdough mats to download:
- Counting 1-10: Life Over Cs
- Letters: 123 Homeschool 4 Me
- Shapes: 24 Hour Family
- Another take on shapes: Planes and Balloons
- Colors: Fun-a-Day
- Weather: Homeschool Share
- Life cycles: Homeschool of 1
You can find playdough mats for holidays, to fit unit studies, or just for fun. The Aloha Hut has a great post about how to use playdough mats to foster creativity in kids, as well as some printables for things like faces, empty places and cakes that kids can decorate with dough.
Of course mats aren’t the only way to play with playdough. Playdough trays are another fun way to play with dough that can have a particular theme. Early Learning Ideas has a great post all about using playdough trays throughout the year with different theme ideas like flowers, apples, spiders, Christmas and more. Pocket of Preschool talks about the benefits of playdough trays in preschool and kindergarten classrooms, including more skill development, social skills and creativity.
Trays are an easy way to add manipulatives to playing with dough, but there are lots of other easy things you can do. Adding some craft sticks makes it easy to make basic shapes, like in this post from Messy Little Monster, or for kids to build other creations. Or try adding pasta to your playdough with these ideas from Playtivities.
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