Growing up we all have explored play dough in some form. But outside of simple messy play, what exactly is play dough good for?
Playdough supports and assists it has a vast array of developmental learning and sensory benefits for children. As the children manipulate the play dough they strengthen their fine motor skills which will support the development of their pencil grip and improves pre-writing skills. These fine motor skills are the foundations in developing the children’s coordination in their hands and helps build on their dexterity abilities. Playdough has a calming effect by squishing and squashing the play dough it will help the children to express their emotions and is a great tool on rainy days when children are itching to go outside and have a run.

THE SKILLS CHILDREN GAIN WHEN PLAYING WITH PLAY DOUGH:

• To see negative space when cookie cutter shapes are taken away.
• To express feelings, squeezing and pounding.
• To exercise their imagination and creativity.
• To help express their emotions in a positive manner
• That the amount of a substance remains the same, even when the shape changes.
• To use play to investigate, project and explore new ideas
• To recognise their individual achievement.
• To explore ideas and theories using imagination, creativity and play.
• To demonstrate an increasing understanding of measurement to describe size, length, volume and capacity.
• To explore concepts of shapes, relative sizes, big, small, length, height, etc.