Playdough is one of the play activities that we can use to nurture our child’s development. In fact, It is loved by children as they can make anything using their imagination and creativity. What is the benefits of nurture our child with playdough?
- Playdough enable the child to reinforce his fine motor control when he is making shapes with the dough.
- Children are very sensitive with their touch. Playdough gives them the opportunity to explore their tactile sense with their fingers.
- A child develops concentration when he enjoys working with playdough.
- Playdough encourages intellectual development as the activity involves lots of thinking and creativity, problem solving and solutions.
- The child develops self-confidence and independence when he manages to make a creation from the dough. Words of encouragement and praise are important to promote emotional development.
- If the child is working on the activity in group, he learns social skills such as sharing and communicating with others.
- Playdough can be a medium to develop a child’s speech and vocabulary, e.g. short phrases, sentences, shapes, colors, objects etc.
I highly recommended home made playdough. Home made playdough is non-toxic, economic and easy to make. Normally I will throw away the used dough once the activity has finished due to hygienic purpose. I don’t keep the home made playdough even though it can be kept for at least 1 to 2 weeks in the fridge. In school, I will give each child their own portion of dough to prevent Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. Let me share with you a very easy to prepare playdough recipe :
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup of salt
- 1 cup of flour
- 1 tablespoon of cream of tartar
- 1 tablespoon of oil
- 1 cup of water
- food coloring
Steps of Making
- Mix the ingredients in a saucepan.
- Heat gently, while stir the mixture at all time.
- Remove the saucepan from the stove once the dough has a good consistency.
- Allow the dough to cool.
Let your child participate in the process of preparing ingredients and making the dough. Enjoy the fun of making playdough together! You may provide cookies cutters, pastry roller and cutlery to make the activity more enjoyable. Do make sure that the cookies cutters are made of plastic and it is not shape to avoid injury. Try to get plastic or toy roller! If you are using wooden pastry roller, you need to supervise the child so that he won’t use it to hit his friend or drop on his toes.
Also, I like to share an article on 10 activities that you can do with your child at home written by a mother of two. Playdough is one of the activities she used to play with her children. Our participation in the child’s play is one of the essential elements in nurturing our child’s full potential!
Annette have tried the recipe with her children and they have had a great time. You can here to check it out!
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Messed up our outdoor plans but I am going to make the play doh instead with them. My mom used to make it when we were little. I have to confess, I have never tried it but we have everything in the kitchen, so I am jumping in !
