By
Tiffani Mugurussa
What is soft and colorful and can squish through your fingers? The
answer is play dough. The invention of play dough dates back to the
1930s. Originally it was invented to be wallpaper cleaner. However,
after a classroom of children began using it as a modeling compound, it
was reformulated and introduced to the Cincinnati schools in the
mid-1950s as play dough. Today play dough can be found in almost every
preschool and kindergarten classroom. Bringing play dough into a
learning center offers a variety of educational opportunities. It is a
great, inexpensive educational tool that can be used to foster
creativity, literacy, and math skills.
And most importantly of all, kids love play dough. There is something
magical about rolling, patting, and squishing the brightly colored
dough with your fingers. Play dough isn’t just for playing with, however
. . .
- It can strengthen and improve fine and bilateral motor skills. The muscles we use to hold a pencil are the same muscles used when playing with play dough.
- It can help release stress. Give a ball of play
dough to a student who is angry or stressed and watch them squish and
mash those feelings out of their system.
- It is a great tool for igniting conversation and imagination
in young minds. Have you ever listened to your students at the play
dough center? Often you will hear them talking about their creations.
- Play dough also makes a great learning center manipulative for teaching literacy and math concepts. This colorful ball of salt and flour has so many possibilities!
Before your students can begin to smash and roll this large ball of
fun, you will need a fabulous recipe for play dough. If you are
fortunate enough to have the ability to cook in your classroom, making
the play dough with your class can be a lesson in and of itself. Below
you'll find a recipe I have used for almost 20 years. As long as it is
stored in an airtight container, it can last the entire school year.
Play Dough Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup salt
- 2 tsp. cream of tartar
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp. vegetable oil
- Food coloring
DIRECTIONS:
1. Mix the flour, salt, and cream of tartar in a large pot.
2. Mix water, a few drops of food coloring, and oil together in a bowl, then add to the dry ingredients.
3. Cook the mixture for 3–5 minutes on low/medium heat while stirring
constantly. Make sure you scrape the sides and bottom of the pot as you
stir. Add more food coloring if needed.
4. The dough will start to pull away from the sides of the pot and form a ball
5. Take it out of the pot when it begins to have a VERY faint brown skin. Place it on a counter or cutting board.
6. Knead the dough until it becomes soft and smooth.
7. When the dough is cool, store it in an airtight bag or container. I like to use frosting containers with color-coded labels.
Play Dough Rules
When I introduce play dough to my class, I make sure they know my three simple
Play Dough Rules:
Rule #1. Keep play dough on the mats. We discuss
why it needs to stay on the play dough mats. When play dough is on the
floor, it gets dirty and it can be tracked throughout the room. To make
play dough mats, I laminate 12‛ x 18‛ sheets of colored construction
paper, but you can use plastic place mats, too. I explain to the
students that the mats help to keep our tables clean.
Rule #2. Don’t mix the colors. We discuss why mixing
colors isn’t a good idea. At the beginning of the year, I usually just
offer one color choice. As the year progresses, I add additional
colors.
Rule #3. Only use play dough tools.
I have a variety of tools that are only to be used for play dough. We
discuss that classroom pencils, crayons, and scissors are not play dough
tools.
Beginning of the Year Play Dough Activities
The very first time I introduce play dough to my class, I let them
just play with it on the mats. The first time they use play dough, there
are no tools to be used. I want them to just use their imagination and
play with it.
The next time we use play dough, I add basic tools like rollers.
Again, they are just experimenting and playing with it. I feel it is
important for my students to have the opportunity to play with it before
we begin to use it as a learning tool. For many of my students, this
may be their first experience with play dough. I will often sit back and
observe how they are using the dough, look at what they are creating,
and listen to the conversations they are having. All of these
observations can help me learn about and have a better understanding of
my students.
After a few times of just playing with the play dough, I demonstrate
three ways to roll the dough. I show the students how to roll the play
dough between the palms of their hands into long, snakelike pieces.
Next, I show them how to roll it out on the table using their hands.
Finally, I show them how to roll the dough into small balls using the
palms of their hands. All of these rolling activities are good for
improving small motor and bilateral coordination skills.
After they’ve learned to roll their balls of dough into snakes, I
introduce the instructional learning mats. We practice shaping the
snakes into the shapes that are printed on our mats. These mats are
basically large alphabet letters, numbers, or shapes that I have printed
on my computer using a very large font size. The ones in the picture
below were created using a font size of 500. I printed the letters and
numbers onto colored cardstock then laminated them for durability. You
can also use sheet protectors if you don’t have access to a laminator.
7 Simple Learning Mats
These learning mats can easily be made using your computer and printer:
As time goes on, introduce other play dough tools, such as:
. Alphabet and numeral cookie cutters. Play dough stampers. Play dough cutters or plastic knives. Play dough scissors All of these tools can be easily integrated into a learning center to
build literacy and math skills. For example, the alphabet cutters and
stampers can be used to spell out sight words, and the number cutters
and stampers can be used to create math problems.
Simply put, play dough is fun; it strengthens hands and fingers; and
it builds imagination, communication skills, and cooperative play. I’d
love to know what is in your play dough center and what activities your
students participate in.