Did you see all of our sensory dough recipes from last year? Making homemade dough is a fun and easy activity to do with the kids.
Why provide opportunities for sensory play? Well, there are many reasons...
Benefits of Sensory Play:
Fine Motor Skills: All of that pressing, squishing, and molding strengthens muscle tone in those little hands.
Calming: Sensory dough could be compared to as a child's version of Zen gardens and stress balls. It's relaxing and soothing for them to sit, play, create, and take in the sensory experience at their own pace.
Creative Thinking: Providing a child with sensory dough also provides them with the opportunity to create! There is no limit to what they can mold and make from the dough.
Social Skills: Any activity that brings kids and parents together for some quality time builds social skills.
Following Directions: Whether it's through following the recipe or your verbal instructions, getting the kids directly involved in making sensory dough provides them with a hands-on opportunity to sharpen those listening skills.
Hand-eye Coordination: Create a station with the dough and other items like cookie cutters, rolling pins, beads, and even ice cream cones. As they are picking things up to play and create, they are unknowingly practicing hand-eye coordination.
Imaginative Play: The sky is the limit for sensory dough experiences! Let your child's imagination soar as they engage in this open-ended, sensory experience.
Academic Skills: Turn sensory dough into a science lesson. (We did this last year with fizzy dough and glowing slime.) Use cookie cutters shaped liked letters and numbers to practice literacy and numeracy skills. Use the dough to teach colors and shapes. These are just a few suggestions for the numerous educational experiences that can extend from playing with sensory dough.
Neurological Development: Sensory input builds nerve connections in the brain, and all of these connections help your child process and complete more complex tasks.
FUN: It's just plain fun!
So...what's our newest sensory dough theme? It's snow dough. Here in the South, we haven't seen much snow beyond a few flurries. Instead of playing with real snow, we mixed up a batch of snow dough. It was a perfect wintertime activity and it only requires a few ingredients!
Why provide opportunities for sensory play? Well, there are many reasons...
Benefits of Sensory Play:
Fine Motor Skills: All of that pressing, squishing, and molding strengthens muscle tone in those little hands.
Calming: Sensory dough could be compared to as a child's version of Zen gardens and stress balls. It's relaxing and soothing for them to sit, play, create, and take in the sensory experience at their own pace.
Creative Thinking: Providing a child with sensory dough also provides them with the opportunity to create! There is no limit to what they can mold and make from the dough.
Social Skills: Any activity that brings kids and parents together for some quality time builds social skills.
Following Directions: Whether it's through following the recipe or your verbal instructions, getting the kids directly involved in making sensory dough provides them with a hands-on opportunity to sharpen those listening skills.
Hand-eye Coordination: Create a station with the dough and other items like cookie cutters, rolling pins, beads, and even ice cream cones. As they are picking things up to play and create, they are unknowingly practicing hand-eye coordination.
Imaginative Play: The sky is the limit for sensory dough experiences! Let your child's imagination soar as they engage in this open-ended, sensory experience.
Academic Skills: Turn sensory dough into a science lesson. (We did this last year with fizzy dough and glowing slime.) Use cookie cutters shaped liked letters and numbers to practice literacy and numeracy skills. Use the dough to teach colors and shapes. These are just a few suggestions for the numerous educational experiences that can extend from playing with sensory dough.
Neurological Development: Sensory input builds nerve connections in the brain, and all of these connections help your child process and complete more complex tasks.
FUN: It's just plain fun!
So...what's our newest sensory dough theme? It's snow dough. Here in the South, we haven't seen much snow beyond a few flurries. Instead of playing with real snow, we mixed up a batch of snow dough. It was a perfect wintertime activity and it only requires a few ingredients!
Snow Dough Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 cup baking soda (chilled)
- 1/2 cup oil
- glitter (optional)
Directions:
Place the baking soda in the refrigerator for several hours to get it nice and cold. Pour the baking soda and oil into a large bowl and mix them together. (Note: We used vegetable oil since that was all I had available at the time. The snow dough could have been much whiter if we had used clear baby oil or even coconut oil.) Add a little more baking soda or oil as needed to get the right consistency. The great thing about using baking soda is that you end up with a crunchy, flaky, snow-like consistency. Chilling the baking soda gives the dough a cold feel until the warmth from little hands starts to heat it up. Mix in some glitter to give it a little more sparkle. To cut down on the mess, I placed the finished dough into a plastic tub. Let the sensory play time begin!
More snow dough playtime adventures from my fellow co-hosts...
Experimenting with Snow Dough | Lemon Lime Adventures
How to Make Snow Dough (Taste Safe) | Powerful Mothering
Book-Inspired Snow Dough Sensory Play | Stir the Wonder
Snow Dough Science | Raising Lifelong Learners
A Snowy Day Snow Dough Play | Natural Beach Living
Frozen Snow Dough | Sugar Aunts
Edible Snow Dough | Wildflower Ramblings
Vitamin E Snow Dough Recipe | FSPDT
Rubbery Marshmallow Play Dough | Therapy Fun Zone
Snow Dough & Outdoor Play | Peakle Pie
Music Inspired Snow Dough | Witty Hoots
Glittery Snow Dough | In The Playroom
Arctic Small World Snow Dough | Best Toys 4 Toddlers
Snow Dough Frozen Inspired Small World | Preschool Inspirations
Sparkly Taste Safe Snow Dough for Toddler & Preschool Sensory Play | Bare Feet on the Dashboard
Fizzy, Frozen Snow Dough | It’s A Long Story
Frozen Inspired Snow Dough | The Pleasantest Thing
Baby Cereal Snow Dough | Creative World of Varya
Arctic play snow dough & fizzing science | Glittering Muffins
Snow Dough Slime Recipe | Little Bins for Little Hands
Happy playtime!
Follow Dayna | Lemon Lime Adventures's board Sensory | Dough Recipes on Pinterest.
Oh my...this is perfect since we don't have actual snow in my neck of the woods. Great project for my kids. I would love it if you would share this creative post at our WIW Linky party. I hope you can join us.
ReplyDeletePaula
ivyandelephants.blogspot.com
Thank you! I'll have to check your link party out.
DeleteYes, we haven't had more than a few flurries here too. ;)