20+ Fun Ways to Play with Playdough (2024)

Are your kids getting bored with the same old playdough activities? If so, then you’ve come to the right place. This blog post is all about fresh ideas to rekindle their interest via playdough invitations to play. Grab your favorite playdough recipe and get ready!

We’ve got a creative mix of over 20 ideas that will transform how your children interact with playdough – making it cooler, more fun, and anything but boring! Not only are these activities incredibly engaging, but they also provide an excellent opportunity for your little ones to develop their fine motor skills.

So, let’s roll up our sleeves and get ready to reshape the world of playdough fun!

Playdough invitations to play offer a multitude of benefits for children across different areas of development. These versatile activities encourage creativity and imagination, allowing children to express their individuality in a calm learning environment.

As children mold and shape the playdough, they strengthen the small muscles in their hands, enhancing their fine motor skills. This is crucial preparation for tasks such as writing, buttoning clothes, or using utensils.

Moreover, playdough invitations to play do more than just promote physical skills. They also foster cognitive development. When children use non-traditional playdough tools in their creations, they explore new concepts and learn to think outside the box.

In fact, playing with playdough is such a big part of our preschool lesson plans that I have compiled all my favorite playdough recipes into an e-book.

If you’re looking for even more playdough recipes, check out my eBook: 45 Playdough Recipes.

Right now, you can get 30% off! Just click the image below.

What is a Playdough Invitation to Play?

An invitation to play with playdough is any set-up where playdough is the main sensory tool. It’s is set-up with a variety of items and toys that can be used with the playdough to create an inviting learning and creative experience for preschoolers.

There are no directions for how to preschoolers are to play with the playdough. As long as children are using the materials respectfully, they can use them any way they choose. This allows for the most learning.

Materials for a Invitation to Play with Playdough

First of all, you’ll need some playdough. You can purchase sets on Amazon and get a range of colors, or you can make some homemade playdough. Here are some of our favorite playdough recipes.

• Classic Cooked Playdough Recipe
• Kool-Aid Playdough Recipe
• Brown Playdough Recipe
• Lemon Playdough Recipe
• Peanut Butter Playdough Recipe

Playdough Tools

Even the most basic playdough invitation to play needs some tools to shape and mold the playdough. These are our go-to playdough tools.

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What Do Children Learn From a Playdough Invitation to Play?

While some may find this surprising, playdough has a wide array of developmental, learning, and sensory benefits for kids. This is why playdough is a staple in almost every early childhood classroom. It’s so versatile! Even if it just looks like play, kids are learning while using playdough.

• Fine motor skills
• Hand strengthening development
• Improves prewriting skills
• Social-emotional skills
• Language and literacy
• Art and creativity
• Science and math
• increases curiosity and knowledge

These are just a few of the benefits of playing with playdough.

How to Set Up an Invitation to Play with Playdough

Often times you will see a playdough invitation to play in platters from the dollar store, the kind with multiple sections like you would use for veggies and dip. The playdough is in the middle and then all the toys and extra items are in the outside sections.

Having the invitation to play organized this way makes the play less messy and more purposeful. Having the toys and extra materials all separated and categorized helps preschoolers think through how they want to use their materials.

But you don’t have to use a platter. Simply placing the playdough on a tray with a few piles of toys and manipulatives also works well.

20+ Playdough Invitations to Play Ideas

One of my favorite ways to do playdough with my preschoolers is to first, make my go-to playdough recipe with them. It’s quick and simple and last up to six months if wrapped properly.

Then, I like to offer a playdough invitation to play!

If you’re looking for even more playdough recipes, check out my eBook: 45 Playdough Recipes. Right now, you can get 30% off!