Playdough Recipe – Developing Finger Muscles

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Playdough Recipe

Playdough can be made very easily using “ingredients” that you have at home and this simple activity has many benefits. Before children can hold a pen and learn to write, they need to strengthen and learn to control the muscles in their hands and playdough is the perfect activity to exercise little fingers.

Basic playdough

  • 2 cups plain flour
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • ½ cup table salt
  • 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
  • up to 1½ cups boiling water - This part is for an adult!!
  • food colouring (optional)

What to do:

  1. Mix the flour, salt and oil in a large bowl.
  2. If you’re using food colouring, add it to the boiling water then pour into the flour mixture adding bit by bit and stirring it together to form a sticky dough.
  3. Allow it to cool down then take out of the bowl and knead it for a couple of minutes until the stickiness has gone.
  4. At this point you can also add a few drops of essential oil or other aromas such as herbs and spices.

To keep the figures that they make, bake in the oven on a medium heat for approximately one hour and the play dough will harden!

Add a selection of tools from around your home such as small world figures, a rolling pin, cookie cutters, cupcake cases, safety scissors, a child’s knife and fork or even a garlic press!

For more recipes click the link on the sidebar.


Top Tip

Cooking is a great way develop sequencing. Sequencing words are later used to help with routines, story writing, talking about events etc Using sequencing words can be used everyday when talking through what you are doing. Cooking is a great time to use these words together as you follow simple instructions. Word such as now, next, then, after. Cooking with your child does not have to be a complicated recipe, in fact the simple ones are the best because its about the process now necessarily the outcome. Making things such as scrambled eggs, pancakes, milkshake.
Playdough can be made very easily using “ingredients” that you have at home and this simple activity has many benefits.
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