In Joujoux, we place a premium on open-ended playthings –
toys and materials that allow children to spend hours tinkering while using
their imagination, creativity, and resourcefulness. While we have nothing against
one-purpose-one-design toys, we want our customers (usually parents) to realize
that they are getting a lot of entertainment-and-learning mileage with each
Joujoux purchase.
Playdough is one of my personal favorite open-ended
playthings. There are so many things to
do with a lump of playdough. Its
malleable properties allow children’s fine motor skills to be strengthened as
they make balls and coils with it.
Eye-hand coordination and concentration goals are achieved when they
poke sticks and branches into it or when they emboss leaves as they engage in
preschool printmaking. Playdough is also
one of the first media used when introducing a young child to cutting with
scissors.
The wonderful news is that one need not scour the shelves of
toy stores for playdough. With pantry
basics, one can whip up a big batch of playdough in the comfort of your own
home using the recipe below:
Playdough recipe:
2.5 cups of warm water
1 ¼ cup of salt
1 ½ tbsp of cream of tartar
4 tbsp of vegetable oil (you can add an additional tablespoon
to make a more buttery playdough)
2.5 cups of flour
Mix everything in a pot over low heat. It will look lumpy and then smooth but,
given a few minutes, it will all come together into a beautiful ball of
playdough. When the dough is cooked
through and does not stick to your fingers, take it out of the pot and onto a
smooth surface. Easy peasy!
Now the fun part begins!
Place a few drops of food coloring onto the dough and knead the dough
until the food coloring spreads evenly throughout the dough. I made a huge batch so I divided the dough
into five parts and colored each ball of dough differently. I didn’t want the usual rainbow colors and
opted for softer tints so…
…I made playdough in the yummiest of colors: pink, avocado green, lemon yellow, lavender,
and teal.
Don’t they look dreamy???
Give it a try! With
materials such as rice grains, branches, leaves, alphabet tiles, buttons, and
pebbles to play along with playdough, the creative play possibilities of
playdough are endless!
