Conversation Heart Play Dough
I love creating play dough that fits a homeschool theme or holiday too, so this Conversation Heart Play Dough is perfect for Valentine's Day and just plain fun all the way around. It's also a sneaky way to work in some handwriting practice! Hot Cocoa Playdough is also a big hit with the kids!
Play dough is already an amazing tool for building up small hand muscles to strengthen fine motor skills for writing, to create a base for imaginative and small world play, and of course the fabulous sensory factor- sight, smell, and feel. But it is useful even beyond that, sometimes it is hard to get children to want to practice sight, or spelling words, and even the alphabet for letter recognition. Turn it into a fun sensory activity and it isn't so hard to get a little cooperation.
Let's start with a good, soft, basic play dough recipe (scroll down for the printable version):
Ingredients For Conversation Heart Play Dough
- All-purpose flour
- Vegetable, canola, or coconut oil
- Salt
- Cream of tartar
- Water
- Food coloring
- Vanilla extract
How to Make Conversation Heart Play Dough
- Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture begins to pull away from the pan and form a ball in the center.
- Remove from heat, flip the dough out onto a floured counter, allow to cool to the touch.
- Divide dough into 4 equal pieces, knead until smooth.
- Add 3-4 drops of food coloring to each ball to create a pastel color.
- Wrap in plastic wrap if you want to save your hands from a semi-permanent dye job (did not listen to my own advice here, regretted it when color was still there nearly 24 hours later). Knead color into the dough to distribute evenly.
Tools For Playing With Play Dough
That's it, ready to go! Now here are a few ways to use your dough to reinforce literacy skills learned at school or as part of your homeschool day.
Store your dough in an airtight container when not in use, ours usually lasts for 1-2 months when stored well. We use inexpensive plastic containers.
Provide your child with large heart cookie cutters, a rolling pin, and rubber alphabet stamps.
We started by rolling out our dough and cutting out hearts to resemble the Conversation Heart's Valentine's Day candy.
There are several ways you can go from here:
Write letters/words to practice on index cards, then have them use rubber stamps to “rewrite” them in the dough.
Call out spelling/sight words and have them spell them out using the rubber stamps pressed into the dough.
Spell out 3 similar words in each heart, call out the sight/spelling word and have them identify the correct one.
Don't forget to include some free play when using the doughmaking it more enjoyable will help the lessons stick better.
More Sensory Play Ideas:
- Sensory Activities: Valentine’s Day Dyed Rice
- Snakes & Frogs Sensory Bin
- Pond Sensory Bin Idea
- Summer Sensory Activities For Preschoolers
- Halloween Sensory Bin Idea
- Christmas Sensory Bin Ideas
Conversation Heart Play dough
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup salt
- 1 Tbsp. cream of tartar
- 1 1/2 cups water
- Food coloring
- Vanilla extract
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture begins to pull away from the pan and form a ball in the center.
- Remove from heat, flip the dough out onto a floured counter, allow to cool to the touch.
- Divide dough into 4 equal pieces, knead until smooth.
- Add 3-4 drops of food coloring to each ball to create a pastel color.
- Knead color into dough to distribute evenly.
What a cute idea! I love the spelling practice by writing the messages on the hearts! #ThoughtfulSpot
Thanks! I love sneaking in learning opportunities whenever I can. I popped over and checked out your process art post. Love the emphasis on enjoying the activity instead of focusing on the end result!