Learning With Play Dough

Play dough is often seen as a messy activity that is not worth the time and effort that it takes to clean up after. But if set up properly and supervised carefully play dough can be fun and provide opportunity for a lot of learning.

First, set up a play space in an area where any play dough that does happen to fall does not ruin carpet or expensive flooring. Then put some type of cover on the surface of your play area that is easy to clean or that can simply be folded up and thrown away. If there are only one or two children playing wax paper can be used for a quick and easy clean up. A plastic table cover makes a good play area if there are more children and the whole table is needed. I have saved the plastic themed table cloths from birthday parties for these types of uses and they work very well.

After the play area is suitably covered set out the play dough and other play items. Play dough can be fun with a few simple tools. Plastic utensils are fun for pretend play dough food (just make sure the children understand that play dough is not really good to eat.) A small rolling pin is always fun as well. For even more fun add some cookie cutters.

The items mentioned above will provide hours of fun and entertainment. If more accessories are desired there are many fun and inexpensive play dough sets on the market now. Hasbro, Roseart and other companies make many wonderful playdough sets that will spark the imagination.

Now that we have our play dough out the fun begins. And there really is a lot of fun to be had with play dough.

For young preschoolers there is the simple joy of rolling, smashing and squishing. These activities are great for developing fine motor skills in the young child. And while playing don't miss the opportunity to talk about what the child is doing using specific descriptive words. For example - Instead of saying "I see you are having fun with the play dough" instead say " I see you are having a lot of fun with red play dough."Talk with the child(ren) about the shapes they are making, the colors being used, how the play dough smells and feels. Count how many play dough balls they have rolled or how many stars they have cut out with the cookie cutter. See if the blue or the yellow play dough rope is longer. Talk, laugh and have fun. If it is kept light and natural the child will enjoy and participate in the interaction.

Preschoolers who are a little older can enjoy using play dough to reinforce letter and number recognition skills. Use cookie cutter or simply free form to make the letters and talk about their names and their sounds. Make a number and then make the corresponding number of shapes. Count together. If you don't mind mixing two colors together experiment and see what color you can make out of two. And again - talk, talk, talk. Enjoy the conversation, introduce ideas and vocabulary and have fun.

Children may also enjoy helping to make a batch of homemade play dough. Measuring, pouring and mixing are great learning activities. Adding food coloring to make pretty colors is fun as well. Just be sure if you use a recipe that requires cooking that an adult does the actual cooking and stirring while it is on the stove. And don't forget to allow time for it to cool before handling.

Their are a lot of good play dough recipes and some of them can be found here.

Whether you decide to make your own play dough or to use some from the store play dough is a great learning tool as well as source of entertainment and fun.

Enjoy!