Let’s use these printable pattern cards and loose parts to explore line, pattern, shape, fractions, and symmetry as part of a hands-on invitation to create with math.
Let’s use these printable pattern cards and loose parts to explore line, pattern, shape, fractions, and symmetry as part of a hands-on invitation to create with math.
Combine loose parts and play dough for a wonderful easter-themed invitation to play and create making loose-parts Easter eggs.
Every childhood needs play dough! It’s the perfect sensory play material and lets your children build vital math, literacy, and fine motor skills all through play.
This practical book will give you easy homemade play dough recipes PLUS 52 play dough activities that incorporate sensory play, fine motor skills, math, literacy, and imagination.
Suitable for teachers, childcarers, and parents with children aged 2 to 8.
Written by Cathy James, the author of The Garden Classroom and the creator of NurtureStore.
You will be able to set up sensory learning activities your children love to help them develop vital skills through play, including:
Snowman Play Dough
Wake-Up Dough
Math Tangrams
Small World Diggers
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Valentine Lollipops
Heart Bunting
Mark Making with Play Dough
Candy Store Play Dough
Toothpick Math
Chocolates Play Dough
Spring Chicks
Scissor Skills Activities
Real Bread Making
Chocolate Play Dough Cupcakes
Under The Sea Play Dough
Salt Dough Bead Bracelets
Princess Pink Play Dough
Garden Flower Play Dough
Spot The Tracks Activity
Play Dough Art Station
Play Dough Fractions
Shape Matching Jigsaws
Ice Cream Parlour Play
Design a Fish Challenge
Art Mural Making
Big & Small Exploration
Play Dough Bake Off
Alphabet Dough Activities
Chill Out Lavender Play Dough
Animal Habitats
Seaside Play Dough
Making Caterpillars
Making Butterflies
Birds and Nests
Seashell Play Dough
Gingerbread Men
Pizza Parlour Play
Cinnamon Leaf Prints
Outer Space Play Dough
Autumn Trees
Diwali Salt Dough Candle Holders
Rangoli Mandals
Play Dough Spiders
Scary Monster Play Dough
Drinking Straw Exploration
Colour Mixing Experiments
Christmas Salt Dough Candle Holders
Christmas Spice Play Dough
Christmas Trees
Christmas Angels
Winter Landscapes
Click here to get your copy of The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book Beginner’s Guide for $14.99 or save $10 with our bonus pack below.
Upgrade your Beginner’s Guide To Play Dough and get The Amazing Play Dough Printables Pack too. It’s the perfect pairing!
The Amazing Play Dough Printables Pack gives you a whole year of play dough printables: 180 play mats covering over 50 themes and topics.
No hassle, no planning, you’ll always have an activity on hand.
You can use these play mats:
Combine the play mats with The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book and you’ll never run out of play dough ideas!
Buy The Amazing Play Dough Printable Pack now with The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book for only $34.99 $24.98 and save $10.
Click here to save $10 and get them both
Play dough is the perfect sensory play material because it’s great for all ages. My daughters are teenagers now and they’ve been using play dough since they were around two years old. As they’ve grown, the ways they use play dough have evolved.
Very young children may enjoy simply having some dough to explore – they need few added extras to enjoy squashing and squeezing the sensory dough. Using the recipes in The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book to make your own play dough, means you know exactly what’s in it, so you can you be sure it’s safe for your child.
Toddlers and pre-schoolers love to have props added to turn the dough into play scenes and role play opportunities. Listen in and you will hear their language develop as they play. Play dough also helps to build vital fine motor skills and hand strength, so children can go on to write and draw well.
Older children can let their imaginations take flight, using the dough to mould models and create intricate play lands. They’ll be developing storytelling, problem-solving, and scientific thinking as they play.
Dough is even great for adults. Baking a loaf of bread is great therapy after a stressful day and play dough is also used in many physiotherapy practices to keep fingers nimble and maintain muscle strength.
Once you’ve made home made play dough using the recipes in this book, you won’t want to switch back to store-bought. Making your own dough is quick, easy, and very inexpensive. It allows you to add in lots of colour, scent and textures that you just can’t get from a shop. Plus, you know exactly what’s in it and you can keep it all plastic-free and compostable.
A DIY version also allows you to make bigger quantities of the dough, giving your children a generous amount of material to play with so they can really go for it and imagine, create, and enjoy.
With every knead, squash, and moulding of dough your children are working on their fine motor skills; developing strength, control, and flexibility in their fingers, hands, and wrists. This paves the way for
successfully holding a pencil to write, fastening buttons, tying shoe laces or playing piano.
The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book is also full of activity ideas that show you how to include counting, sums, fractions and size in your play. The variety of materials we use brings lots of extra vocabulary into play, and you will see how play dough small worlds and imaginative role-playing burst into lots of chat, questions, and speech development.
Combine the recipe book with The Amazing Play Dough Printables Pack and you have the perfect beginner’s guide to play dough and you’ll never run out of engaging play dough ideas.
Click here to get only The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book for $14.99
Click here to get only The Amazing Play Dough Printables Pack for $19.99
Click here to get BOTH for only $34.98 $24.98. You save $10!
These preschool discovery baskets provide just the right prompt for some creative, hands-on learning. Here’s how we use them for storytelling, pretend play, maths and science.
Have you ever tried building stone cairns? If you have children who love building towers they’re a fab activity to try – combining natural materials, loose parts, construction play and just a little added dash of wow-factor!
One of my girls is so romantic, and this rose petal sensory play tub was made just for her. It smells wonderful and gives children a new natural material to explore – and it’s lovely for imaginary play.
Click to play on the video above to see our sensory tub masterclass. You’ll learn how to make a sensory tub for your children using simple materials, the benefits of sensory tubs for children, and how to use a sensory tub to teach children about math, literacy, science and fine motor skills.
You’ll also see lots of ideas for sensory tub fillings plus find out how to get great printables to add to your tubs. Subscribe to NurtureStore’s YouTube channel to get more sensory play videos!
Both my children have their own special plants in our garden, which they chose, planted and help to look after.
My youngest {and most romantic} dreamed of a yellow rose, which begins to flower in her birthday month of June. {You can see B’s conker tree here.}
The first of the blooms are just starting to drop and, before they make their way to the compost heap, we gathered some up to make a fragrant sensory tub.
Rose petals have such a silky feel, and we only needed a few flowers to fill the whole tub.
We added in a wedding pair of Sylvanian rabbits, along with some foil shapes for confetti and a little wedding breakfast feast.
And L collected some extra tiny flowers to make the bride a bouquet.
At first, she always seems to love to just explore the touchy-feely qualities of a sensory tub – and of course this time there was the added extra of the lovely smell.
We searched on Spotify for ‘wedding march’ and found some great music to play in the background.
Once she’s enjoyed the feeling, the imaginary play takes over. Here’s the bride and groom and their guests posing for the official photograph!
Such a lovely, fragrant sensory tub – it would be great to keep the children happy at a summer wedding!