How to Make Scented Play Dough

Playdough is a great way to help strengthen the hands of a preschooler. Strong hand muscles help with the ability to write later on in school. If preschoolers make the Playdough themselves and give it a scent, they will be much more interested in playing with it than if you buy proprietary brands.

Things You'll Need

• Flour
• Bowl
• Salt
• Cream of Tartar
• Water
• Any kind of scented oil extracts
• Food coloring (if desired)
• Wooden spoon
• Measuring cups both 1 cup and 1/2 cup
• Zip-top bags for storage of playdough

Instructions

1. Measure 1 cup of flour into a large bowl.

2. Add 1/2 cup of salt to the bowl.

3. Put in 3 tbsp. of Cream of Tartar. Some recipes call for larger amounts and a smaller amount of Cream of Tartar. This seems to be the perfect amount.

4. Mix the scent extract with the 1 cup of water to ensure equal distribution of the scent in the Playdough. Pour in with the other ingredients.

5. Mix the ingredients thoroughly. This may take a little time so don't rush it. You can use a wooden spoon or your hands.

Tips & Warnings

• Have preschoolers pour the ingredients into the bowl themselves to help them further understand sequencing and measurements.

• Cream of Tartar can be found in the spice section of most grocery stores.

• Play this game several times a week to strengthen small muscles in the hand.

• Any scent can be added to Playdough.

• Talk about what scent you put in Playdough and discuss where else this scent might be in your preschooler's life.

• Playdough is a great medium to use to teach preschoolers practice with scissors.

• Add different Playdough toys for variation.

• Food coloring can be added to Playdough.

• Food coloring can be used to match the scent and further discussion can be made about their correlation.

Resources

• Find everything you need at teachnet.com
• Additional Playdough Resources