Make Playdough: Beach Themed Fun

When making our homemade playdough, the highlight (and also toughest part) for me, is choosing which colour to make the play dough. Very much like making a cake, the possibilities seem endless. There are so many colour palettes to choose from.

During our Summer holidays, which sadly has come to a close, the beach became a favourite place for us to spend time together. Inspired by our Summer holidays, I decided to go with the different colours of the sea when making our most recent play dough batch.

How to Make Playdough:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup salt
• 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 2 cups of water
• food colouring (I used different shades of blue for our beach themed play dough)

Instructions:

1. Combine all dry ingredients and mix.
2. Add wet ingredients (except food colouring) to the dry ingredients and mix.
3. Place in a large pot and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until it forms a ball.
4. When the dough pulls away from the pan and the wet parts begin to look dry, take out the dough and knead until smooth.
5. Once the dough has cooled, add food colouring and knead well until well combined.

The quantities stated above makes enough for four adult handfuls.

(For a printable version of a play dough recipe, check out our rosewater play dough)

An Invitation to Play

To set up an invitation to play, I used a small shallow bowl of seashells, collected during our Summer trips to the beach.

The kids sourced out these tools themselves to add to their play:

Playdough press; (which is kept in our playful learning area within the writing / art cupboard).

Rolling pins; (again, always kept in our playful learning area within the writing / art cupboard).

Superheroes; (mainly in our toy boxes, but regularly found anywhere and everywhere throughout our home).

What other tools and toys do your kids love to use when playing with play dough?

More Activities for Preschoolers

Three to Five: Playful Preschool is stuffed to the brim with tried, tested and loved playful learning ideas for preschoolers. There are 25+ ideas for preschoolers, ten printable resources and additional links to over 50 more activities. A great resource for parents. Download your copy here.

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