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Young children love to play with dough. And no wonder! They can squish and pound it and form it into fascinating shapes. Helping to make play dough lets children learn about measuring and learn and use new words. Cooking with you-following the steps in a recipe-is the perfect way for your child to begin learning how to follow directions and how to count and measure. It can also teach him how things change.

What You Need

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 cups water
2 tablespoons cooking oil
Food coloring
Food extracts, such as almond, vanilla, lemon or peppermint
Saucepan
Objects to stick in the dough, such as Popsicle sticks and straws
Objects to pound with, such as a toy mallet
Objects to make impressions with, such as jar lids, cookie cutters and bottle caps

What to Do

To make play dough:
Add the food coloring to the water. Then mix all of the ingredients together in a pan.
Cook over medium heat, stirring until it forms a soft ball.
Let the mixture cool. Knead slightly. Add food extracts to different chunks of the dough to make different smells.
Talk with your child about what you are doing as you make the dough. Let your toddler or preschooler help you with measuring and adding ingredients.
Let your child handle some dough while it is still slightly warm and some when it has cooled off to teach him about temperatures.
Give some of the dough to your toddler or preschooler so she can pound it, stick things in it, make impressions in it and make her own animals, houses and people from it.

Information source: U.S. Department of Education - Helping Your Preschool Child

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