5 Fun Things Kids Can Do with Play-Doh

The best part of watching children play is seeing the simple joy they get out of letting their imaginations run wild. A great playtime toy that you can enjoy with your children (while also allowing them to flex their creativity muscles) is Play-Doh! Whether you use it to make funny shapes or to explore color and texture, this fun toy can bring hours of entertainment to your favorite little rascal. Here are 5 fun things that you can do with Play-Doh:

Recreate characters out of a picture book. Prop open your child’s favorite picture book and have them try to recreate some of their favorite characters or shapes out of the Play-Doh. This activity is best employed when the illustrations inside the book are relatively simple in shape and color, such as Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar or Dorothy Kunhardt’s Pat the Bunny. You and your child can enjoy making your best three-dimensional Play-Doh versions of all these characters by sticking together different shapes and colors.

Plan your dinner menu with Play-Doh. You can incorporate meal time with Play-Doh fun by helping your child plan the dinner menu with the modeling clay. Encourage your child to use all of the colors to create food, and you can even have him or her place their creations on a plate for added realism. As fruits and vegetables are often the most colorful items on the dinner table, having your child plan meals with Play-Doh may even encourage them to pay more attention to and become more excited about eating healthy and brightly-hued fruits and vegetables.

Make Play-Doh a discovery of texture. While you can use Play-Doh to make many fun shapes, it is also good for creating textures. Explore the kitchen or office with your child, picking out unusual items that can be used to create different textures on Play-Doh. For example, using some scraps of tulle or mesh could create a great texture on the modeling clay surface. You can even use toothpicks to poke holes in it, or the bottom of a clean sneaker to make treads on it. Thinking about what types of marks could be made in Play-Doh will encourage your child to think creatively and see everyday objects in a different light.

Create a Play-Doh family. Make a ball of the clay with your hands, and then attach it to an upright log of Play-Doh you have created a simple Play-Doh “person.” Dolls and action figures are not the only things that your child can use to act out scenes. Make some simple (or more complex) Play-Doh people and role play a scene with them. You and your child can send the Play-Doh family on adventures, and if any new element needs to be added to the story, you simply need to sculpt it.

Finally, make your own play dough! With some common household ingredients, including flour, water, food coloring, and vegetable oil, you can create your own non-toxic play dough with your child. This tutorial from Instructables.com provides an easy guide on how to whip up your own play dough out of things you can find in your pantry. The dough will typically keep for a week or two if kept in an airtight container.

Photo credit: Robert S. Donovan