Making Our Own Playdough
Playdough is one of our basic play materials in Nenagh Childcare Centre, we get through tons of it!
Playdough is so versatile, we can use as a tool to discover colour and texture, it can be therapeutic – the conversations that take place while the children squash and squeeze the playdough, are wonderful.
We also use it to encourage independence. Our older children can even make their own. We received a gift of doTERRA wild orange essential oil from one of our mums and today the children enjoyed making wild orange playdough. The classroom was filled with the wonderful uplifting aroma of oranges.
Adding fragrant essential oil adds another sensory interaction to making and playing with playdough. It is also of course natural and totally nontoxic.
Our older children can use playdough to develop those skills necessary for school readiness.
Playdough can be snipped, made into letters, used with tweezers and pencils. Children can practice their creativity - making sculptures, their counting - making buns and sharing them out, learning about simple fractions – half and whole, the list is endless!
The beauty of home-made playdough is, it costs very little and is very easy to make.
DIY Basic Playdough Recipe
2 cups of plain flour
1 cup of salt
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Warm water to mix
You can add texture by adding lentils, rice etc.
Sometimes changing the flour to rice flour gives a different consistency.
You can add food colouring or play paint to give colour and don’t forget those essential oils for those therapeutic aromas while the children play.
