The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book is the perfect beginner’s guide to making, playing and learning with play dough.
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.
50+ play dough recipes and activities
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.
BONUS: add The Amazing Play Dough Printables Pack and save $10
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.
Simply print, add play dough, and play!
No hassle, no planning, you’ll always have an activity on hand.
You can use these play mats:
- for sensory play sessions
- to build fine motor skills
- in finger gyms and welcome activities
- with loose parts play
- in classroom centers, to fit year-round themes
- for play dates, rainy days, snow days, and after school
- while you cook, do laundry, read a book, and drink that coffee while it’s still hot
- and anytime your children say ‘I’m bored!”
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
Every child needs play dough!
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.
A beginner’s complete guide to play dough
- The Homemade Play Dough Recipe Book
- The Amazing Play Dough Printables Pack
- Tried-and-true recipes including classic, no-cook, gluten-free, salt dough, cloud dough, real bread dough, and modelling dough
- 52 play dough activities for sensory play, fine motor skills, language, math, and imaginary play, for every week of the year
- PLUS 180 play dough mats, including math, literacy, animals, festivals and themes – you’ll never be short of a brilliant play dough idea
- for ages 2-ish to 8+
Get your beginner’s guide to play dough here:
$34.98 $24.98
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!
Available for instant download
This product is an ebook (electronic book), which means you will be sent a link by email which allows you to download the ebook and all the resources. You should save it to your computer or iPad and then either read it on screen or print some/all of the pages, as you prefer.
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We are such HUGE play dough fans here and I am so excited by your fab ebook! It is packed with so many really awesome, and doable ideas!! Well done!
Thank you kate!
Your playdough book is amazing! We’re going to dive into some of these ideas today, and I’m so excited to try your no-cook recipe.
Thank you Jeanette! The no-cook recipe is my all time fave.
I ordered this book via Facebook on my iphone. I paid through my paypal account. I didn’t receive any kind of email confirming payment and giving me a link to download the book. How do I get a copy of the book that I paid for?
Hi Misty. Did you see that I replied to your question on Facebook? If you can tell me (cathy@nurturestore.co.uk) the e-mail address that’s linked to your Paypal account, I will be able to find you on the system and arrange for a new link to be sent to you straight away. Could you e-mail me with the details and we can get this sorted for you? Thanks,
Cathy
I paid for play dough book but did not get it! Last week!
Hi Elaine. I’m going to e-mail you to check some details with you, so I can help you with the book download. Cathy
happy new year cathy! it has been sooo much fun joining in the new SimplePlay activities with all your readers this year–thanks a million for being the one to “bring it back to basics” it really is a great feeling just watching them play/learn. I just thought Id update you as to my book download issues. even after you sending the email, i havent been able to find anyting ;( I would like to know if you could PLEASE try emailing me above again to see if I receive the book this time…? also just received our laptop back I will see if there is somehow a copy on my hotmail server archives somehow/somewhere. I feel so in the dark lol not having my own copy of your book! see ya around! Janine (ps i am sorry to bug but on a teeny budget thx)
Hi Jeanine, I’ve been wondering if you’d managed to download it yet. I’ve just sent you another link, to the e-mail address you’ve left here. If you don’t receive it, please let me know and I will issue you a refund. (You might need to check in your spam folder to see it) Thanks for joining in with #simpleplay – I’ve been enjoying seeing your photos on Instagram! Cathy
Hey there Cathy! You are simply amazing! I share all of your activities everywhere I possibly can, and take part in as many as well ;D I am so excited about this new year of learning and play ing with my youngster. I have been able to share so many projects with my neighbours and the family I just began babysitting. I look forward daily to receiving your emails and ideas for the kids. Gives me hope, inspiration and encouragement ;D thank you. You really are a gem & have been very patient with my difficulty here as well. Sorry. Don’t know what happened but,a I recieved your latest email just now, and I am here to RE-Purchase YAY!!! 😉 To download Immediately LOL ..thank you again for your assistance and much more, Jeanine from Canada 🙂
Hi Cathy,
I have tried to contact you by email, but have not had success, so will try this method. I purchased thee book paying by PayPal, and although the payment his showing in my account I have not received a download link or any other mail from yourself, please would you look into this for me? I can provide payment ID number if that helps. Thanks.
Lorraine
Hi Lorraine, sorry you had difficulties with the e-mail. I’ve just sent you an e-mail now which contains a fresh download link for the book. If you have any further problems with it, please do let me know. Best wishes, Cathy
Hi Cathy,
Thanks so much for sorting that for me.
Regards
Lorraine
Hi,
I purchased the book and my paypal made the payment, but no link came through. Can you please send it to this email address?? And no, it’s not in my spam.
Hi Rebecca. Sorry you had a problem with the e-mail. I’ve sent you a new link to the e-mail address you’ve given here. If you have any further problems, please do let me kow. Cathy
Is there a way to prevent play dough from getting moldy? I tried te cooked recipe and put it zip lock bags after cooling but after awhile the get moldy
WhI have measurement system do your recipes use in the book? Do they include the US measurements? I love playing with Play Doh with children, so this would be an option to consider. Will you sell your books in hardcover?
Hi Lily. Most of the recipes are given in cups. The real bread dough uses grams. And no, they’re not available in hardcover. Thanks for your interest in the book. 🙂
if your children are combining colors, do you have to make new play dough every time they play with it? If so, is there a way to reuse the play dough? Can the dough keep? If so, how? The person in February of last year (2014) had the same question, and I can’t find an answer… I would like to know the answers before purchasing the book.
Hi Connie. I guess it depends if you are bothered about the colours getting mixed up or not. I usually make one or two colours at a time and we keep them tied shut in a plastic food bag between play. I find they last for months, so we get lots of reuse from. Some of the ideas in the book suggest particular colours – so if you want to make the lavender play dough for example, it’s a purple one that fits best. But many of the ideas are play and learning ones that are based on play dough, but you don’t need it to be a specific colour – so you could make one batch of play dough that’s good for lots of the activities in the book, played with over a long period of time. Hope that helps, but let me know if you have any other questions. Cathy
I love the idea of making our own playdough to match the activities we do! Would the activities in this be useable in a large class environment? I’ve got a class of about 20 preschoolers, and I’ve found some kinds of activities designed for home schooling don’t scale well.
Yes Annie, they’ll work really well for whole class, small groups and centers. All the homemade recipes will add more variety and be more affordable than store-bought play dough, and I always use simple loose parts / craft materials that you’ll likely already have in your class.