How To Make Play Dough at Home – Easy!

 

Play dough is one of our favourite childhood pass times and can initiate some great exploration ideas and ignite the imagination! From rolling, squeezing, stretching, moulding and kneading, these opportunities for developing fine motor skills and muscle development can help with children utilising these muscles later on in their early years through skills such as holding a pencil or scissors.

Play dough is also a great social activity, where children can sit together and discuss what amazing creations they have made, developing friendships and confidence. Here, the children can also learn persistence and patience, when sometimes things don’t quite go to plan, persisting with their task until their final production is mastered for them to boast and share “Look what I made!”

 

Making your own play dough can be an easy activity to do with your child’s help with items you may already have at home, and can save you a trip to the shops with more money in your back pocket! It is also more sustainable, and has less chemicals than some store-bought play dough.

 

Follow these easy steps to make your own play dough at home – 

 

Gather your ingredients:

• 1 cup salt
• 3 cups plain flour
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• food colouring (optional)
• 250ml (1 cup) warm water

 

Begin to make your play dough:

• In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.
• Add the oil to the dry mixture.
• If using food colouring – Add a couple of drops to the warm water and stir through.
• Slowly add the water to the play dough mix, mixing with a wooden spoon, until the desired consistency is reached.
• Kneading with your hands will help to improve the texture. Break it into smaller parts and let your children get into it too!
• If the texture still doesn’t seem quite right, add a little more flour (if too wet) or a little more water or oil (if too dry)

 

Tips:

Play dough can be stored tightly in cling wrap and in an air tight container for a couple of days.

Using a chopping board or placemat to knead the mixture on will help to not get food colouring on your table or bench!

You can add spices like cinnamon, or essential oils such as lavender to your play dough to make it extra fascinating!