Making playdough: A Following Instructions activity
On rainy afternoons as a girl, my mom would gather us around the kitchen where we’d make homemade playdough. I’d anticipate when the dough was finish and my my mom would drop a couple of drops of food coloring and the kneading would begin. I was mesmerized by the marbled streaks that would appear before it’d eventually became a solid color. With those homemade lumps of playdough we’d spend hours working our childhood magic making people, animals, and imaginary worlds.
Pass along the same magic to your kids with this no-cook glitter playdough recipe and two ingredient soft playdough.
Most likely you’ve already go the ingredients for both of these recipes in your cupboard. Whip up a batch tonight.
Start by getting your child’s attention and giving a clear, simple instructions for each step. “John, pour the water water into the bowl.”
Once you’ve given the instruction, you child says “ok” and does the step. If they don’t say “ok” or immediately do the instruction, remind them and repeat the instruction.
Once they’ve finished they need to report that they’re done. Acknowledge that you’ve heard them.
Follow the same pattern until all the steps of the recipe are completed.
And be sure to check out these other parenting lessons also!
DIY NO-COOK GLITTER PLAYDOUGH
Materials
Large mixing bowl
1¼ cup water
4 cups flour
4 tablespoons of cooking oil
1½ cups of salt
food coloring
glitter
Steps
Step 1: Pour water into bowl
Step 2: Add food coloring. (You can add more later if it’s too light.)
Step 3: Add the flour to mix, stirring as you go
Step 4: Mix in salt
Step 5: Add oil. If it feels too dry add more oil
Step 6: Add glitter
Step 7: Knead until the dough is soft
TWO INGREDIENTS SOFT PLAYDOUGH
Materials
1 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup conditioner
Mixing Bowl
Steps
Step 1: Pour cornstarch into bowl
Step 2: Add conditioner
Step 3: Mix together