What Can I Do to Encourage Toddlers to Play With Play Dough?

Toddlers have fun with play dough.

With some guidance, toddlers can work with play dough in a focused and creative way. Before training your toddler to actively engage with play dough, you must first allow her to explore the texture of play dough and get used to this new sculpting medium. Some toddlers may resist play dough at first due to its unusual consistency and strange appearance. By introducing play dough to toddlers in imaginative ways, you can encourage them to try something new and give them a form of creative expression.

Parent Participation

If toddlers see you involved in an activity, they will naturally want to join in and know more about it. When using play dough with young children, offering descriptions of and asking questions about their actions will prompt them to communicate and investigate their work. You can also demonstrate to toddler various play dough techniques, such as forming a ball, flattening it out, and rolling it into a tube. Creating silly characters of faces with the play dough will amuse toddlers and model the use of imagination.

Play Dough Tools

Once children have become comfortable with the texture of play dough, they can use a variety of tools to make new designs. A few basic utensils, such as plastic butter knives, rolling pins and pizza or dough rollers, will make it easy for children to flatten, slice and shape play dough into abstract designs. Cookie cutters will entertain toddlers with familiar shapes and figures and help them mold concrete patterns. They can also use plastic letter and number shapes to make prints into flattened play dough, building math and language skills.

Edible Play Dough

Make sure toddlers have no peanut allergies before making peanut butter play dough.

Some toddlers still have the habit of tasting anything they get their hands on, whether edible or not. While traditional play dough contains no harmful ingredients, it still doesn't taste very good. Toddlers will appreciate play dough made with tasty ingredients that allows them to simultaneously snack and play. Edible play dough made with peanut butter, oatmeal, pumpkin pie filling, cream cheese and chocolate will invite toddlers to dig in and get comfortable with the feel of play dough on their hands.

Scented Play Dough

Toddlers learn best when stimulating multiple senses. Adding various scents to homemade play dough will entice them to further inspect this new substance. While helping to make the play dough by measuring, mixing and adding ingredients, toddlers will anticipate the final product and build early math skills. After mixing the traditional play dough components of flour, water, oil, salt and cream of tartar, put in a few drops of vanilla, orange, mint or cinnamon extract to add a delightful scent. By separating the play dough and adding different smells to small sections, you can play a scent recognition guessing game with toddlers.

References

• Healthy Children: Playing Is How Toddlers Learn
• Baby Center: Let's Play! Playdough Creations
• Family Corner: 10 Edible Play Dough Crafts for Busy Little Kids