Fourth of July Sensory Play: How to Make Festive + Homemade Play Dough

Gina
Jun 9
3 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

In this BLOG post I will teach you how to make homemade play dough at home and share my best tips and tricks.

There is nothing wrong with store bought play dough, but once you make it, there is no turning back!

It’s soft. It’s squishy. It can be colorful or scented or textured and lends itself to any theme your child or students enjoy.

Once you make it, it stores easily and can last up to 6 months.

It’s fun and a fabulous way to work on fine motor skills. What are fine motor skills you ask? Great question!

Fine motor skills are the small movements we make in our fingers, hands and wrists. These small movements are responsible for crucial developmental milestones and independent skills.

These skills include:

Brushing your teeth
Feeding yourself
Zippering your coat
Buttoning your pants
Wiping
Drawing
Holding a pencil and writing

So how does play dough come into play here? There is a HUGE connection! Play dough provides a way to strengthen those very muscles, all through play. As kids smoosh and squeeze and roll and dig in the dough, they are strengthening fine motor skills. They are working their fingers and hands without even realizing it!

The more opportunities they have to explore and strengthen those muscles through play, the easier it will be when they need to transfer those skills into real life-skills.

Interested in other play dough variations?

Try these:

Chocolate Play Dough

Rainbow Play Dough

Dino Dirt Play Dough

What Can You Do With Play Dough?

The possibilities are truly endless, but here are a few of our favorite ways to explore play dough!

Add in your favorite cookie cutters and make "cookies."
Add in safety scissors and work on cutting. You can roll the dough into a snake shape (also so good for strengthening hands!) and practice making little snips.
Add in a child-safe knife and practice cutting.
Add in wooden or plastic letters, numbers or shapes to incorporate academics.
Make 3 balls with the dough. Hide something inside the middle of one of them. Ask your child to try and pick which one it is hiding it. As they pull and push through the dough, they are doing so much GOOD for those fingers!
Add in your favorite trinkets: dinos, trucks, gems, legos, peg dolls etc and PLAY!

Materials:

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/4 cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Red and blue food coloring

Step 1: Pour all ingredients into a pan. Stir well.

Step 2: Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently.

Step 3: When it forms a solid ball, remove it from pan.

Step 4: After it cools, knead well.

Step 5: Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months!

*this is for one batch of dough. If you want to make red, white and blue, follow the above steps for each batch. The white batch, we just left as is, without any food coloring.

To make the swirls:

Roll out the red dough, white dough and blue dough. Layer them on top of each other and roll them into a tube shape. Use a knife to cut the tube into slices and reveal the fun and festive swirls!

Frequently Asked Questions:

What kind of flour do you use for play dough?

White, all-purpose flour works best for homemade play dough. Using whole-wheat flour may alter the color and texture of your dough.

What is creme of tartar?

Cream of tartar is used to prolong the shelf-life of the dough, as well as help to create a silky-smooth texture. If you do not have COT, substitute the same amount of either white vinegar or lemon juice.

What does the salt do in the dough?

Salt is an important ingredient in play dough and should not be eliminated.

It acts as a preservative, making the dough last longer.
It adds texture to the dough.
When combined with oil and cream of tartar, it creates a super soft and moldable play dough.

What oil should be used?

Oil is used to improve the play doughs texture and consistency.