HOMEMADE PLAYDOUGH RECIPES and More

Playdoughs are really beneficial for toddlers and preschoolers in various ways.

These two pictures were copied from here 

Some benefits of play-dough based games are;

• they are good for developing their motor skills, sensory experiences, preschool skills such as poking, pinching, squeezing, rolling and cutting all of which also help with school readiness, 
• good for their imaginative plays, 
• useful in expressing their feelings and 
• they are great fun! 
• Additionally, many preschoolers would love to help making a playdough at home which has its own numerous benefits too such as encouraging and improving mathematical skills (eg. measuring, counting etc), language skills (eg. following instructions), teaching them concepts like full/empty or hot/cold and problem solving skills (eg. "I think this is too dry. What should we do?" or 'what happens when we pour water into flour?'). 

Here are a few homemade playdough recipes for you. 


Cooked Playdough


Ingredients: 
2 cups plain flour
1 cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
2 tablespoons oil
2 cups of water
Edicol colour (1/2 teaspoon)

How to do it:
Mix ingredients and cook gently stirring constantly until thick. Allow to cook and knead until smooth. Store and use.

Stretchy Playdough

Ingredients:
Use and sort of container, cup, top or spoon
2,5 measures self raising flour
1 measure of cold water

How to do it: 
Mix together flour and water to make a lovely stretchy dough. Add more flour if necessary. Colour with Edicol dye or use spice, essence for a different sensation.

Uncooked Playdough

OPTION A: 


Ingredients:
1 cup of salt
2 cups of plain flour
1 teaspoon colouring
1 teaspoon oil
Water to mix

OPTION B: 

Ingredients: 
1 cup of plain flour
Half a cup of salt
Half a tablepoon of cooking oil
Quarter a cup of cold water
Food colouring (optional)
Glitter (optional)

How to do it:
Place salt and flour in a bowl. Slowly add the oil and water with colouring until a dough forms. Knead until smooth.


Slime

Ingredients:
2 cups corn flour
Cold water to mix

How to do it:
Place corn flour in a bowl and add a small amount of water until a thick dough consistency forms. Easier and fun to mix with your hands.


Glue and Paint

Ingredients:
3 rounded tablespoons of corn flour
3 tablespoons of cold water to mix
500ml boiling water

or

Use any measure, eg, spoon, cup
1 part corn flour
1 part cold water to mix
3 parts boiling water to thicken

How to do it: 
In a measuring jug, mix corn flour with enough water to be runny. Add boiling water to the mixture to make 500ml stirring until thick and smooth. Use this for finger painting/glue, messy play or collage etc. or make paint by adding Edicol dye, and adding more cold water to thin.


SOME HELPFUL NOTES :

It is recommended that playing with playdough doesn't start prior to the age of 18 months. 

If your homemade playdough dries, just add some water, knead it for a while and it should go back to normal soft-self again!

It is claimed that if you add some vanilla or some peppermint extract to your homemade playdough, it helps prevention of molding and preserves the dough while making it smell nice but be careful, it may smell so nice that children may not be able to resist tasting it!