The Toy Finder

When playing with play dough and the toy accessories that come with it, children are learning about shape, texture, dimension and volume – as well as expressing themselves creatively. No wonder it’s such a timeless classic in the world of arts and crafts toys!

In addition, play dough is also great fun. The touchy-feely qualities of the dough encourage everyone, even adults, to prod, squeeze and otherwise manipulate this malleable material. Not many people can walk by a soft lump of play dough without squishing it or at least taking a little bit off to roll into a ball. Preschoolers are equally fascinated and with a little use of the right vocabulary their fascination can be productively channelled into some valuable learning activities.

Dimension and mass can be easily demonstrated by taking two lumps of play dough that weigh about the same. Children can enjoy working each lump into a different shape while keeping the mass the same. This is a valuable experience in working towards understanding mathematical concepts. Little by little, preschoolers will start to realise that the shape or area of an object does not always determine its weight or mass and that density is important too. Rolling an identical lump of play dough, for example - into a sausage shape, does not automatically make it bigger!

Length and area experiments are fun too. Children love to roll play dough into sausage shapes at first, and then watch, absorbed, as the piece rolls thinner and thinner under their palms. Some will then roll the dough back again, into a spiral shape. Eventually, as many mums and teachers know – it will be melded together and placed upright, so becoming – yes – a snail! By the time the snail’s little horns have been squeezed onto the front of his head, the preschool sculptor will have learned that the length of the dough piece was enough to form the area of his creation.

Learning about area is also a perfect excuse to bring out the toy rolling pin, not to mention the cookie cutters! Preschoolers will learn that in order to cut a certain number of sadly disgustingly salty-tasting cookies, they will need the dough to be rolled out to cover a certain area. They will also discover, as they experiment, that the more enthusiastically they roll and the greater the area, the thinner the play dough becomes. Trial and error will teach them that thin papery dough will make unappetising-looking cookies that have to be scraped off the work surface, so losing their attractive shape. Great experience can thus be gained before attempting the real thing!

At least play dough can be re-used, as, in a trice, children can squish their unappealing sticky creations back into a ball. Then they can learn about solid shapes by patting the dough back into new forms such as spheres or cubes, using hands or rulers. Chopping long lengths of dough with plastic knives or cutters offers endless amusement, particularly if children are using them to make Smartie-coloured sweets in all the colours of the rainbow.

In the unlikely event that preschoolers become bored with these play dough activities, there are now lots of additional options. Glittery play dough that sparkles in tones of jade or amber can make exciting jewellery treasure-trove for pirate sculptors, while silvery or golden metallic play dough is festive for Christmas craft activities. Puce purples and grisly greens are gruesomely appropriate for monster-sculpting at Halloween – in short no little monster should run out of modelling crafts to create at any time of year!