All About Play Dough! Play Dough Activities and Why it’s Beneficial to Children

14 5 月, 2025

Play dough has been a favourite toy for generations of children – and it’s easy to see why! Not only is it fun to squish, squeeze and mould, but there are countless ways you can play with this timeless and versatile toy! On this page, you’ll find some simple play dough activities you can do at home along with some of the key ways it supports children’s development.

Don’t forget to check out BridgeWay’s FREE family programs across Brampton and Mississauga! Click here to find a location closest to you.

 

How does Play Dough Support Children’s Development?

It’s soothing: Play dough has a naturally calming effect; just holding and squishing it can help children feel relaxed. Moulding and manipulating play dough also takes a lot of focus, which helps children to zone-in and concentrate on the task in front of them.

It strengthens important muscles: Playing with play dough exercises the small muscles in children’s hands and wrists. Strengthening these muscles will help their ability to hold a pencil/crayon, open and close food containers, zip up their coat, and so much more!

It’s an open-ended toy: Open-ended toys can be played with in countless ways; they invite children to explore, create, and use their imagination. For example, a toy car is a great toy, but it will always be a car. On the other hand, play dough can be shaped, moulded and manipulated into anything you can imagine. Play dough starts as dough but becomes a birthday cake or a bumpy road, a snake or a castle!

 

Play Dough Activities for Children 6 and Under

 

Practice with Scissors

All you need is a pair of children’s scissors!

Before children can use scissors to cut paper, it’s helpful to practise with other materials that are easier to hold – like play dough. This allows them to focus on holding, opening, and closing the scissors without having to think about how to hold the paper too. As they build the small muscles and dexterity in their hands, using scissors to cut paper will become easier!

Your child can practise skills like this at BridgeWay’s Preschool Time program!

Preschool Time is for children 2.5 to 6 years of age to play with others and practise skills that will help them in school and beyond.

 

Incorporate Your Child’s Favourite Toys

Mixing your child’s favourite toys with an open-ended material (like play dough) creates a whole new experience.

Play dough can be anything… like rocks for a dump truck or cement to fix the road!

Since children are most comfortable with the toys they repeatedly play with, adding those toys to play dough will spark their interest and increase their confidence to fully explore all the different ways they can play with play dough.

 

Add Nature to Your Play Dough

Sticks, leaves, pine cones, rocks, and shells are some of nature’s greatest toys – and they make great additions to play dough! There’s no right or wrong way to play and children will take it upon themselves to experiment with the materials in different ways.

They might make prints in the play dough to discover all the different shapes they can create…

…or they may build something new using the play dough as “glue” to hold different materials together.

You will see activities like this in our Play and Learn program.

Play and Learn gives children (birth to 6 years) opportunities to freely participate in activities that spark curiosity, encourage exploration, and support their overall development.

 

Mix in Kitchen Supplies

Rolling pins, baking trays and bowls are just some of the kitchen supplies you can add to your child’s play!

These supplies lend themselves to all kinds of pretend play; like running a restaurant…

…making pizza…

…or dipping cookies in milk!

Playing pretend supports social-emotional development which is all about developing empathy and self-awareness. Pretend play is also a great way to reflect on past experiences and is a effective form of self-expression.

 

Add Loose Parts

Loose parts are objects that can be rearranged, moved around, and manipulated in multiple ways.

Some examples of loose parts are:

• candles
• feathers
• buttons
• googly eyes
• golf tees
• popsicle sticks
• containers and lids (separate or together!)
• building blocks

Loose parts lead to imaginative and creative play as children find new and interesting ways to use them.

Small loose parts like candles (pictured above) or golf tees (pictured below) strengthen small muscle skills. In the early years, these muscles are developing strength, coordination and dexterity through play so that one day they will be able to write, tie their shoelaces, zip up their coat, brush their teeth, and so much more!

 

Don’t Add a Thing!

Play dough is a great toy to play with on its own. It can be soothing to hold, squish, roll, and pull apart the dough.

Soothing, sensory activities (like play dough) can be seen at BridgeWay’s Dim The Lights program!

Dim the Lights allows families to enjoy activities and a circle time with reduced sensory stimulation by removing loud toys, dimming the lights, and singing softly.

 

Make Your Own Play Dough

Making play dough together is not only fun, but highly beneficial to children’s learning. Many math and science skills are involved in recipes of any kind – and that includes making play dough too!

Pouring ingredients into a measuring cup is math. They are learning about important concepts like measurement and volume (a full cup vs. an empty cup).

Mixing ingredients together to make something new is science. Seeing a liquid (water) mixed with a powder (flour) to make a solid (dough) is an exciting and thought-provoking science experiment for young children!

Plus, making something from scratch gives kids a sense of pride, and making it with loved ones is a unique and valuable bonding experience.

You and your child can bond over cooking at Kids Can Cook!

During BridgeWay’s Kids Can Cook program, children cook alongside their parents while learning easy, budget-friendly and customizable recipes and creating positive experiences with food.

 

Ready to make some play dough? Here’s our favourite play dough recipe!