Playdough is something many of us have in a cupboard at home or in the classroom. Loved by kids and loathed by any parent that has been faced with a ‘playdough embedded in carpet’ incident (I have met several house-proud parents that have banned playdough from the house entirely!) it is easily accessible, cheap to make or purchase and can be used creatively in such a huge variety of ways.

Motor Skills Development:

The development of hand strength is a key pre-requisite for the dexterity needed to use tools like scissors and pencils. Playdough is a great tool for supporting hand strength as well as body awareness and bilateral coordination as it encourages the use of both hands working together.

Language Development:

Playdough play is a wonderful opportunity to reinforce verbs (doing words) in a real-life context. This helps the child to really understand what the words mean. Children often learn nouns (words to name people and objects) first. Verbs are a very important part of language development, helping children to move from using single words into building short phrases and sentences. Whilst playing with the playdough repeating verbs (e.g. roll, squash, cut, squeeze, twist) as your child is doing those actions will help their understanding and use of these words.

If you would like to know more about the importance of early verbs for language check out these links:

Verbs Pave the way for Language Development http://www.hanen.org/Helpful-Info/Articles/Verbs-Pave-the-Way-for-Language-Development.aspx

The Importance of Verbs for Toddler Development http://www.thespeechdynamic.com/verbs/

Here are a few ideas for make the most of playdough play:

• Pushing beads, sequins and buttons into the playdough promotes tactile (touch) and proprioceptive (body awareness) sensory feedback.

  https://nurturestore.co.uk/loose-parts-easter-egg-decorating-station

• Rolling playdough into long ‘snakes’ and cutting this snake into sections is a fun way to combine hand strengthening and the use of tools (scissors)

  https://www.theottoolbox.com/2013/03/improving-scissor-skills-with-play-dough.html?m=1

• Linking playdough play with literacy tasks means that you can work on developing key fine motor and sensory skills whilst supporting academic development… two birds with one stone! Press plastic letters into playdough to reinforce target phonic sounds or spellings.

  https://theimaginationtree.com/play-dough-letter-impressions/

  https://thelettersofliteracy.com/play-dough-letters-spelling-activity/

• Playdough cupcakes are one of my favourites! Great for social role play through the re-enactment of birthday parties as well as an early numeracy opportunity to count the candles on the cake (reinforcing one-to-one correspondence) and making sure the number matches a child’s age or the numeral on a birthday card.

  https://www.theartkitblog.com/playdough-cupcakes-an-invitation-to-play/

To get more of our top tips and tools join our Confident Communicators Group (supporting development for 2 – 5 year olds).

The group is open to parents/ carers/ grandparents and early years practitioners.

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