Helping Children Learn to Play with Play-dough
Play-dough isn’t usually considered a toy, nevertheless it’s awesome for encouraging kids to play. As soon as children are past the “everything in the mouth” stage, they can be introduced to play-dough and how to play with it. Of course, much of children’s play is self-directed but we can encourage and extend the play and learning.
Play-dough is wonderful for fingers to squish, pat, stretch, roll, and cut, over and over again. Kids learn by watching and imitating, so during play with play-dough, take some and roll it into a long rope or snake. A few long ropes can be attached for a really, really long piece. They can also be made into other shapes, spirals, or even letters and numbers. Show your child what his or her name looks like in play-dough.
Another way to play with play-dough is to make objects, such as animals or food. While this sounds ordinary, it’s a tremendously valuable activity. A chunk of play-dough with 4 legs and a tail is not really a dog, but it holds the meaning or idea of a dog. The brain makes the connection that some things can represent other things. This is the foundation for learning to read. Instead of play-dough being a dog, the circles and lines the make the letters d, o, and g can also be “dog”. This sort of symbolism is used in math, as well as for reading,
Play-dough, like many other toys, lends itself to imaginative and pretend play. Kids can make the foods for a meal, or a pretend restaurant or a store. Monsters or dinosaurs are fun and much less scary to make out of play-dough.
The muscles in the hand and wrist, that will later be used in printing, cutting, and other fine motor activities, are still developing during the early years. Cutting is super easy to learn to do with play-dough, squish together, and do some more. Not only is it lots of fun, it also strengthens the small muscles.
Play-dough is very sensory. You can make it at home in any color and add different scents, like cinnamon or peppermint. Make a batch of white and add buttons and other bits for snowmen. Dark blue could be outer space with a few plastic creatures, stars, and round objects for planets.
Kids will have their own ideas of how to play with play-dough. We can extend and enrich their play in endless ways for more fun and learning. How do you encourage play with play-dough?