Playdough activities

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Playdough recipes - edible and non-edible
an alphabetical list of playdough activities and ideas
playdough colour themed activity ideas for children's play and adults well-being
Playdough activity ideas for children and adults  The benefits of playdough

Children and adults make gains in health and in development when access to dough is made possible.


The fine motor skills involved with pinching, pulling, kneading and rolling a mound of dough exercises all fingers, hands and wrists, strengthening the smaller muscles and providing the actions needed to maintain supple joints and hone hand-to-eye coordination - the cerebellum. A few ways these movements impact on daily life include children's pre-writing dexterity, shoe lace tying, button fastening, zipper opening & closing, bead threading, operating switchs, clothes pegs, turning knobs, dials and inserting keys into locks.

For anyone who makes dough from the raw materials, the process itself is an interesting one for exploring descriptive language and sharing observations about what's happening, the tactile feeling of the compounds in hand and concepts such as quantity, weight, equipment, time and assessment. The changing consistency of dough as different ingredients are combined link to science and the properties of each individual component. Cooking then adds the catalytic effect of heat as it alters fluid states to solid ones.

 
Incorporating scent, colour and other mediums expands the versatility of dough, creating sensory learning experiences and thereaputic activities that may benefit anyone wanting a resistant material thats helps to stretch and flex stiff joints, smells nice!  and supports the stress-busting effect of concentration, that in turn helps as relaxation technique, focussing in on breathing as you work and shape your dough - ways to relieve stress on NHS

 



Benefits of playdough

Playdough is just one part of the whole modelling material spectrum, other equally intriguing mixtures are mud, pottery clay, airdry-clay, polymer clay, plastercine and putty. They all invite engagement and support our unique creativity. So if you're rolling sheets of soft dough for a young child, building clay furniture for a doll's house or garage car park, filling balloons as stress-squeeze balls or conditioning putty for a window frame! enjoy your malleable activities and know that you're not alone!

Ways to use playdough, clay and putty  


 

 Playdough Recipes
 
 Edible playdough recipes
  
 Not for eating playdough recipes

     
 An alphabet of playdough

 
Aa - Bb - Cc - Dd - Ee - Ff - Gg - Hh - Ii - Jj - Kk
 

 Ll - Mm - Nn - Oo - Pp - Qq - Rr - Ss - Tt - Uu
 
 
 Vv - Ww - Xx - Yy - Zz   


 Seasonal playdough activities  
       
 Winter
   
 
Spring
 
 
Summer
 
 Autumn
 
 Playdough books  
 Colour themed playdough activities
 
 Mixed - metallic rainbow and duos
  
 Red playdough
 
 
Pink playdough
 
 Orange playdough
 
 Yellow playdough
 
 Green playdough
 
 Blue playdough
 
 Purple playdough
 
 Brown playdough
 
 Black playdough
 
 Grey playdough
 
 White playdough
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 Playdough activities by age 

          
 Benefits of playdough  

 
Sensory playdough activities

Playdough textures

Copyright notice - designed, written and illustrated by Ruth Grimes