Play Dough is AWESOME!

Who doesn't love play dough, it brings a smile to they young and old!

Part of my son's therapy is heavy work with his hands. There is a product called "Theraputty"" which is intentionally heavier for the children to work with.

However, we enjoy making play dough ourselves........

Aleq is able to focus better when he is involved in making something with his hands. Of course, the only thing he thinks about making with the play dough is animals.

We make our own playdough. Sometimes we go a step further and use this to help with his smelling issues.

The recipe that we use, I found it in our Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space book.

Ash reading the directions for us.

Recipe for Play Dough:

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 cup salt
• 4 teaspoons of tartar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cups of water
• wax paper
• food coloring

1. Mix flour, salt, and cream of tartar in a large pot.
2. Add oil and water. Mix until smooth

1. Over medium heat, stir constantly until the mixture leaves the sides of the pot.
2. Put dough on wax paper. Allow mixture to cool until you can work it with your hands.
3. Divide the dough into smaller sections, thinking how many colors you would like to have. Remember you can mix some colors (teaching the color wheel, woohoo educational time).

4. Add appropriate food coloring a small amount at a time, until the desired effect is achieved. I used about 3 drops first then went from there depending how dark I wanted it. You do not want to put too much because the texture will change.

1. Store in zipper-style bags or airtight containers.

For SPD children that have Olfactory Sense issues (smelling) you can put just a little bit of essential oils or extracts.

Here are some calming scents: lavendar, almond extract, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, and pine.

These are scents that could cause alertness: chocolate, coffee, lemon, orange, mint,and peppermint.

You could  make some correspond to color and ask your child to smell them. They could talk to you about what it might remind them of.

Make sure you keep the play dough balls with the scents each in a different bag. Do not combine alerting and calming smells at the same time.

Now here is some of the other fun we had with the play dough.

This is great as a family activity as well.

Live, Love, Laugh and Play!