Playing with Play-dough

This week we celebrate National Play-Doh (Play-dough) Day. In honor of probably one of pediatric occupational therapist’s most loved days, Kids Therapy Made Simple’s OT Lindsey Lodge, MS, OTR/L discusses her love of all things play-dough. Enjoy!

 

This week’s blog post is about Play-dough. As a pediatric occupational therapist and an aunt to my niece and nephew, this is my go-to activity. It’s a fun and easy material to use for play, learning, sensory experiences, and overall growth and development. You can use Play-dough with kids of different ages to target various developmental skills.

Here are several developmental benefits of Play-dough and ways to encourage learning opportunities for your little one.

 

There are many ways to be creative when playing with play-dough! You can also make your own at home. It’s inexpensive, it will last for months if stored properly, you can customize the color and it’s a great activity for your little one to help with. Below are recipes for basic and gluten free play-dough. Enjoy!

 

Basic Play-dough Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup salt
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tarter
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup of naturally colored water (see above) OR 1 cup water and natural food coloring.
  • Optional: a few drops of essential oil for fragrance.

Instructions:

  1. Mix flour, salt and cream of tartar in a medium-sized pot
  2. Add oil and colored water and stir until ingredients are well blended.
  3. Place pot on the stove over low/medium heat. Cook the dough – stirring often – until begins to pull away from the sides of the pot (about 3-5 minutes)
  4. Allow the dough to cool a little and then knead for a minute or so.
  5. Store in an airtight container

 

Gluten-Free Play-dough Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup rice flour
  • 1/2 cup non-GMO cornstarch or arrowroot powder
  • 1/2 cup salt
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tarter
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup of naturally colored water (see above) OR 1 cup water and natural food coloring
  • Optional: a few drops of essential oil for fragrance. 

Instructions:

  1. Mix flour, cornstarch/arrowroot, salt and cream of tartar in a medium-sized pot
  2. Add oil and colored water and stir until ingredients are well blended.
  3. Place pot on the stove over low/medium heat. Cook the dough – stirring often – until begins to pull away from the sides of the pot (about 3-5 minutes)
  4. Allow the dough to cool a little and then knead for a minute or so.
  5. Store in an airtight container

🙂