7 Reasons Your Kid Needs Play Dough Time (And How To DIY)

I’m yet to meet a kid who doesn’t like play dough. They simply ALL like it. And while you have no idea (and no control over) what store bought play dough is made of, you can easily make your own play dough at home using safe and simple ingredients. Most likely you already have all the ingredients at home and in a few minutes your kid can have his / her own portion of safe and fun dough to play with.

Before I give you a great recipe for some super quick and completely natural homemade play dough, let’s take a moment to look at why play dough is such a great option for your little ones.

Well, there are SO many reasons why letting your kid having fun with play dough is a great idea!

Play Dough Benefits:

1. It’s a great way to develop imagination and creativity. Let them make shapes and tell you what they created or give them an idea and watch as they create it.

2. It’s strengthening the hand muscles in a super fun way. Developing fine motor skills will help them later on when they want to hold a pencil properly or use scissors.

3. It’s calming, soothing, and a great way to unwind and relax. You know this moments when your kid is suddenly hyperactive? Play dough will help them release this excess energy.

4. It can be a good way to practice colours. (if the dough is colourful, of course, which it should be!) You can sort little balls of dough by colour or mix colours to create new ones.

5. If you provide your toddler with a few extras like cookie cutters, sticks or paper straws (see the list of extras below), they will help to develop your toddler’s hand-eye coordination.

6. If played with others, your child will learn to share and play together and that’s a great way to practice social skills.

7. It exposes your child to quite a few math and science concepts. Think about all the different shapes they can build, the different sizes, different numbers of items… there are basically endless possibilities to learn while playing.

Pretty amazing benefits, right?

Now, let’s see how to quickly make some play dough at home. Believe me, it’s super simple!

Play dough recipe

While most of the recipes for homemade play dough call for cream of tartar, here’s a recipe that doesn’t, plus it’s so simple, quick and easy! All you need is 4 simple ingredients you SURELY have in your kitchen anytime, and in 5 minutes your homemade playdough will be ready to play with!

Ingredients you’ll need:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup salt

A bit of oil

Method:

Mix the flour and water together in a bowl.

Add in the salt and mix well.

Add a bit of oil, little by little, till you get some nice and soft dough.

Yes, that’s all. Congratulations, you now have homemade play dough!

If your kids are still in the stage where they occasionally put things in the mouth, stick with vegetable oil so that it’s all completely edible and it’s not a problem if it touches their mouth. If your kids are slightly older consider adding a few drops of essential oil (like lavender or orange). While it won’t affect the texture of your homemade playdough, it will make it smell so much nicer!

Adding extra fun

Need some ideas for extras you can use to make the play dough time even more interesting, fun and educational?

✹ Q- Tips can make interesting textures on the dough.

✹ Paper straws will make or cut out circles.

✹ A small rolling pin along with some cookie cutters are great for pretend play, what’s better to make of dough than cookies, right?

✹Pipe cleaners in different colours can add details to your playdough creations and also add a way of practicing colours.

✹ Toy spoons, knives and forks will be a great addition whenever you decide to design food items.

✹ Toy animals can be added as part of a play dough scene. Make the grass for the cow, the carrot for the rabbit… the possibilities are endless.

✹ Small paper cups will allow your kid to store small play dough creations. You can even make some play dough popcorn together!

✹ Wooden alphabet or numbers are a great way to make the play time more educational.

✹ Baking molds will let your kid make really cool and “professional” designs.

✹ A small comb will make cool designs on the dough.

✹ Wine corks can be used as part of many designs or be used as stamps.

✹ Glitter adds an affect your kid will surely love. (use only if you’re not afraid of the clean up afterwards, though!)

Be smart about it

Many kids are getting bored pretty quickly even while doing something they like, so it’s definitely better not to use all of these extras at the same time; you can choose a few extras every time you play to create completely different experiences and keep your kid’s curious and interested.

As always, stay on the safe side and don’t let them play with things that might be dangerous like toothpicks, seashells, buttons, small bottle caps and other small or sharp objects.

Do your kids love play dough too?

Are you buying or making your play dough? What are your favourite things to do with it? Share in a comment below! 👇🏻