For some reason it seems that lately the weather has been out to get me. During the week we are blessed with warm sunny days, which is no use when my kid is at school and I am stuck in an office. Come the weekend, it pours with rain! Rainy days indoors call for some brainstorming, since keeping a toddler with bin fever busy is not always a simple task. Today, we resorted to playdough - my son said he wanted to make a "hssss", which in adult terms, translates to "snake".
To my dismay, the dough that we bought some months ago had dried up and no use to us at all. Luckily I had all the ingredients required tucked away in my cupboard, so our first activity was to make the playdough, from scratch, with our own hands!
Here's my recipe -
Although this playdough does require stove-top heating, it still really is very quick and simple (and affordable) to make. You will need:
- A saucepan
- A cup of water
- A cup of flour
- Half a cup of salt
- A tablespoon of Cream of Tartar
- A tablespoon of cooking oil
- Food colouring (colour of choice)
The method used to make the dough is EXTREMELY easy, all you need to do is:
- Add the water, salt, cream of tartar and food colouring to your saucepan.
- Heat slowly on a stove-top until the salt dissolves.
- Add the flour and mix it in until a dough starts too form.
- Remove your saucepan from the heat and let the dough cool.
- Once cool, knead the dough until it is smooth.
Once your dough has cooled down it's ready for play time! Playdough is a great way to help toddlers learn colours and engage in sensory play, which is very important for early development.
Why is sensory play important for toddlers?
By encouraging the use of all of a child’s senses (sight, touch, hearing, taste, smell, motion and balance) through play, you can support cognitive growth, language development, gross and fine motor skills and much more. Preschoolers require exposure to activities that stimulate all of these senses, allowing them to dive in and explore new materials and concepts. Using their senses is one of the most natural and most basic ways for toddlers to learn new information about the world around them. - https://www.himama.com/blog/what-is-the-importance-of-sensory-play
To end off, here's a short video of my little guy enjoying his playdough :
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