Early Learning – Page 3 – Continually Learning Academy

It’s October and fall! So what better way to play with play dough than making pumpkin pie play dough and playing with halloween cookie cutters! This recipe for play dough is super easy and can be themed to whatever season or activity. Sensory activities are so great for young children. Children learn so much through their senses and through play. I recently wrote a few posts on sensory bins, check them out here. Sensory bins are a great learning activity for children. Another great sensory activity is playing with play dough! Children can learn through the sense of touch and smell while playing with play dough. Play dough can also be used in multiple different learning activities. For example, shaping letters and numbers, stamping letters or numbers, color recognition, counting balls of play dough, and so many more ideas! Play dough is a great universal learning tool with so many uses. I recently made my daughter pumpkin pie play dough to play with. I let her use some cookie cutters, a rolling pin, and spiky balls during play. She absolutely loved it! This play dough is made from scratch and I added pumpkin pie spice and it smells like pumpkin cookies! I also used orange food coloring to match a pumpkin. It is so great to involve multiple senses during play, so this dough was a hit! This activity could be used with any type of food coloring or spice. You could make play dough for all the different seasons or for whatever activity you want to do. Continue reading to learn how to make this play dough and some play ideas! Pumpkin Pie Play Dough Ingredients 2 cups of flour1 cup of salt2 tablespoons of cream of tartar2 tablespoons of vegetable oil1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spiceA few drops of food coloring or gel food color1 and 1/2 cups of boiling water Method Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar, vegetable oil, and pumpkin pie spice together in a bowl.Add a few drops of food color and mix it in a little (the color will mix more when you knead later)Next, add in just boiled water to the bowl. Mix it up, it may be a little crumbly but it will all mix together later when kneaded. If you feel like it is too dry, you could add a little more water, but I advice to knead it before you add too much.After adding the water, knead the dough together by hand. This will incorporate all the liquid and food coloring.Once the dough is smooth, it is ready to play with. Combine all the ingredients, mix together, and then knead into a dough. Storing the Dough After playing with the dough, store the play dough in an air tight container or zip lock bag. It should last a few weeks this way. The longer you leave it out, the quicker it will dry up! Play ideas Rolling pin My daughter likes to play with the play dough in her hands, but she also likes to roll it. I have a little rolling pin for her to use. This is also a great fine motor activity. Cookie cutters When rolling out the dough, I also let her use cookie cutters. She likes to cut out all the shapes. Since it is October, I used Halloween themed cookie cutters! Spiky balls These little balls were also fun to play with. She used them to press into the dough and it left a fun print on the dough. I also made little piles of the dough and she loved putting a ball on each pile. This was a great counting activity and the start of learning one to one correspondence. Other ideas You could use stamps to practice spelling words. You could have your child build letters or numbers out of the play dough. After cutting out shapes, your child could sort them or count them. Also, just letting your child be creative and play on their own is great. There are so many ways to play! Roll the dough or play with cookie cutters, there are many ways to play! Tips This play dough is not meant to be eaten! If your child still puts things in their mouth, they need to be closely watched. Although nothing in this dough is dangerous, it is extremely salty! Just like with any sensory activity, it may be a little messy. Make sure children have play clothes on and are in an area where they can play with the dough. The play dough also may become crumbly so it could get everywhere. Rolling the play dough. That’s it! I hope you enjoyed this simple play dough recipe! If you want to check out our other sensory bins, click here to read about our fall sensory bin and here to read about our Halloween sensory bin. Also, check out some of our fall themed file folder learning activities here! Thank you for Continually Learning with us! Kyle and Sarah