Get kids excited about back to school season with this colorful homemade play dough activity, courtesy of lakeshorelearning.com. Ideal for children ages 3 to 8 years, everyone will have a blast making the moldable stuff, then showing off their alphabet skills.
What You’ll Need:
• 1 cup flour
• ½ cup salt
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Food coloring
• 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
• Empty yogurt containers
• Wax paper
Directions:
1. Mix the flour, salt, cream of tartar and oil together in a saucepan. Slowly add the water to your mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring until the dough becomes stiff.
2. Pour your dough onto a sheet of wax paper. Set aside to cool.
3. When the dough cools, knead it with your hands until it is pliable but not mushy.
4. Add a few drops of food coloring and knead again to add color to the dough. Note: You can also mix a few drops of different primary colors together to make a secondary color. This is a great way to introduce children to the concept of color mixing!
5. Store your play dough in the yogurt containers.
6. Roll out your dough, and then use craft sticks or cookie cutters to make alphabet letters. Help your child make letters A-Z. Practice spelling with the play dough letters. Can your child spell her name? Can she spell the names of other family members? Older children can use the play dough letters to practice spelling sight-words.