Image credit: freepik.com
As we continue with our partial lockdown at home due to COVID-19, you may be wondering how to engage your children in enjoyable and educational activities. Why not have some fun with play dough? While interning as a therapy and teaching assistant, I witnessed firsthand the various benefits of play dough activities for early childhood development.
Benefit 1. Develop fine motor skills by manipulating the malleable play dough. Learning to use the small muscles that control the thumbs, fingers, hand, and wrists can help children to perform tasks such as dressing, feeding, and writing.
Benefit 2. Engage in sensory play by exploring materials using different senses. For example, children can observe the colours, textures, and smells of play dough. Sensory play can also enhance children's self-regulation.
Benefit 3. Hone imagination and problem-solving skills by making new creations and stories. For instance, children can make a restaurant, zoo, or storybook scene, and use these creations for pretend play.
Benefit 4. Learn language, math, and science concepts by having rich discussions about the process of interacting with play dough and the properties of the creations. For example, children can learn verbs such as "cut", "press", and "roll"; adjectives such as "smooth", "soft", and "sticky"; as well as comparatives such as "bigger/smaller", "longer/shorter", and "more/less".
If your children are bored of play dough, spice things up with these interesting activities!
Activity 1. Create homemade play dough. This is a great activity for children to familiarise themselves with concepts such as materials and measurements, as well as practise listening to and following 1 to 2-step directions. You can even make edible play dough for children who like exploring using their sense of taste.
Activity 2. Add props to the play dough. Provide fragrances such as essential oils and herbs, loose parts such as buttons and beads, as well as tools such as cookie cutters, ice-cream sticks, and rolling pins. This can enhance children's sensory play and allow them to interact with play dough in alternative ways. You can also make a sensory bag by placing the play dough and loose parts in a ziploc bag. This is good as a no-mess option, or to reduce the risk of choking for young children, or to introduce play dough to children with sensory processing issues.
Activity 3. Provide play dough mats. Play dough mats are guided activity sheets that you can print out and laminate or place in plastic sleeves. Children can use playdough mats to learn literacy and numeracy concepts, create characters and stories for socioemotional development, or decorate pictures based on various themes.
But wait, that's not all!
I have created a set of FREE COVID-19 play dough mats. This themed kit contains 8 fun and educational play dough mats that inspire open and honest conversations about staying home during COVID-19. As mentioned in the previous blog post, talking to children about the coronavirus and partial lockdown is important for their mental health and well-being.
The topics included in this themed kit are:
Stay home and stay safe
Talk to an adult about how you feel
Have a regular routine and spend time with your family
Eat plenty of healthy food like fruits and vegetables
Wash your hands thoroughly with soap
Wear a face mask when you go out
Maintain a safe distance from others
Thank everyone working together to fight against the coronavirus
Click here to download the FREE COVID-19 play dough mats designed by me. Don't forget to like and share it with others who might find the resource useful!
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