At Buttercups Childcare & Kindy we incorporate playdough into our early learning program on a regular basis across all rooms. Playdough is great for strengthening muscle tone in little hands – squishing, rolling, flattening, kneading all develop children’s muscles and encourage pre-writing and other skills such as cutting with scissors, using tweezers etc. It is also a very calming and soothing activity to ease tension, improve focus and concentration and inspire children’s creativity and use of imagination. Playing with playdough in small groups presents lots of possibilities for talk and discussion, playing collaboratively, problem solving and sharing resources!
Yay for all the benefits of playdough!
This is our favourite playdough recipe at Buttercups Childcare & Kindy:
2 cups of flour (plain or whole wheat works well too)
1/2 cup of salt
1 – 2 tbsp of oil
2 tbsp cream of tartar
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl with a wooden spoon, then add boiling water from a kettle until the desired consistency is achieved! If you’d like to add some food colouring, we recommend to add it only once the playdough has cooled down.
Add glitter, herbs, spices, flowers, popcorn etc. for even more fun 🙂
