Hi All!

Hope you are fit and healthy and staying safely home…if you out there please wash your hands and look after yourself.

As a nursery team we would like to give you an opportunity to use this easy recipe for play dough to make with your children. It is not only fun activity but also there are many benefits of playing with it such:

1. Enhances fine motor skill – when your child squishes, rolls, flattens, shapes, scores or cuts play dough, he develops and strengthen his hand muscles

2. Creativity and imagination – play-dough provides your child with unlimited possibilities of moulding the dough into food, animals, decorations, flowers etc – so it encourages your child to use his imagination and inspires his creativity

3. Calming effect – sitting at one place and squishing and squashing of play dough will have a very calming and soothing effect on him, it will also provide him with great option to express his emotions

4. Develops hand – eye coordination – use of variety of shapes and rolling pins while playing with play-dough will improve your child’s hand-eye-coordination

5. Social skills – when your child plays with play-dough along with other siblings or you they will interact, talk, discuss problems and find solutions to creating great works of art and craft with play dough, playing with play dough will enhance your child’s social skills

6. Increases curiosity and knowledge – for example mixing colours

You find below an easy recipe for making play dough with your child…

You will need

• 8 tbsp plain flour
• 2 tbsp table salt
• 60ml warm water
• food colouring
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Method

1. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix together the water, a few drops of food colouring and the oil.

2. Pour the coloured water into the flour mix and bring together with a spoon.

3. Dust a work surface with a little flour and turn out the dough. Knead together for a few minutes to form a smooth, pliable dough. If you want a more intense colour you can work in a few extra drops of food colouring.

4. Store in a plastic sandwich bag (squeeze out the air) in the fridge to keep it fresh.

Good luck! Hope you all enjoy it!

Miss Watt, Mrs Marshall, Mrs Bett, Miss Curan, Mrs Rybak