Making homemade playdough is fun and easy! The process of making and playing with the playdough is a learning experience. Children will be working on scanning, sequencing, grasping, pinching, bilateral coordination, eye hand coordination, strengthening, crossing mid-line, sensory processing, and shape/letter recognition and formation skills. Print out the recipe so you can follow along. Allow the child to try each step (except for pouring the hot water). If the child has difficulty, help the child with physical, verbal, and visual assistance. Such as hand over hand assistance, pointing to the next step, and giving verbal clues. When you are done playing, place the playdough in a ziplock bag or container to play with the next day!

During the activity have your children do the following:

• Locate, gather, and carry items to the table
• Identify and name each ingredient 
• Pour and scoop ingredients into measuring cups and spoons
• Open the packaged ingredients 
• Pour ingredients into bowl
• Mix the ingredients with a mixing spoon
• Use hands to mix

Ideas on how to play with the playdough:

• Push your hand into the playdough
• Squeeze the playdough, count aloud how many seconds you can hold it
• Roll the playdough between two hands
• Roll out a snake and ball using your hand
• Make a snowman
• Use a rolling pin to flatten the playdough
• Pinch the playdough using your thumb and index finger
• Place a ball of playdough between two fingers and squeeze your fingers together
• Roll out little balls and count
• Make a bowl
• Use cookie cutters
• Add beads to the playdough and find the beads
• Push buttons into the playdough
• Press a fork into the playdough
• Make a snake and cut with scissors
• Slice the playdough with a plastic knife
• Create letters of name 
• Create shapes
• Draw shapes and letters on a paper and then form playdough to match the shape/letter and lay it on top of the paper