Uku me te Poikere Clay and Playdough

Clay & Playdough | Uku me te Poikere

Clay and playdough are safe, soothing materials which provide children with a great sense of security and opportunity to be creative and expressive.

Activities such as squeezing, pressing, poking and patting help children develop coordination and stimulate brain development, strengthening neural connections in the brain.
Engaging in tactile play exercises hand and finger muscles which is crucial for developing fine motor skills.
Pretend play such as mimicking food preparation and using props to cook, nurtures important social skills. It encourages children to role play, cooperate and express themselves creatively.
Introducing textures, colours and smells adds to the sensory experience. Teachers often create playdough with different sensory properties, prompting engaging discussions.
Children explore with various tools and materials during sensory play, extending their creativity and imagination. Items like animals, rocks, and fences are added to encourage open-ended exploration.
As children engage with playdough or clay, they make decisions and solve problems about what to create. This encourages critical thinking and planning.
While manipulating dough or clay, children naturally explore concepts like weight, shape, and force. This introduces basic maths and science principles such as measurement and physical properties.
Sensory experiences activate brain connections, helping children learn to use their senses actively to understand and interact with the world around them.

Make playdough together:
Creating playdough from scratch is an excellent activity for children to explore colour, texture and smell as you make the dough.
Enhance play with tools:
Add child sized tools such as rolling pins, tongs, stamps, cookie cutters and garlic presses to extend play. A toy stove, oven and cutlery can also spark imaginative play, allowing children to role play family activities.
Setting up a useable space:
Set up a clay station with softened lumps of clay and a material like hessian underneath to keep it in place. Keep water nearby to keep the clay moist and easy to mould and have supporting tools within easy reach.
Add in collage materials:
Introduce natural materials such as seeds, sticks and leaves so children can decorate and personalise their clay creations.