Concepts are made up of small bits of information gathered over time. Children gather much of this information by playing with ordinary materials, such as play dough. When young children use play dough, they’re not only having fun, they’re exploring color, shape, texture, and size. They are also strengthening such valuable reading and math concepts as:

• Part-to-whole relationships—the ability to understand that a number of small pieces can make up a larger one. This is a valuable pre-reading concept and it is fundamental to understanding addition and subtraction. A sentence is made up of various letters and words, just as Kim’s hill is composed of different pieces—a green mound and balls of yellow play dough for trees. Pieces of the whole scene can be added or taken away.
• Representation—the ability to see that one object can stand for, or symbolize, another. Knowing that a piece of blue play dough can represent a pond—or even a pizza—helps children develop the idea that letters or numerals on a page can also represent objects in real life.
• Matching—the ability to see the ways in which objects correspond. A child who cuts out a play dough shape with a cookie cutter and then fits it back into the corresponding space is practicing a pre-reading skill that will enable him to distinguish differences and similarities among letters and numbers.
• Conservation—the ability to understand that volume doesn’t change when shape is altered. It takes lots of time and experience to understand the math concept that a tall, narrow cup may hold the same amount of water as a short, wide one, or that the amount of play dough in a ball doesn’t change when it is flattened, rolled, or divided into smaller balls.

If this all sounds surprisingly serious for a material you can make with flour, water, and salt, remember that play is a young child’s most critical pathway to learning. As Yale University professor Jerome Singer once put it, “Play can miniaturize a part of the complex world children experience, reduce it to understandable dimensions, manipulate it, and help them understand how it works.”

Pounding, poking, and squeezing play dough can be very relaxing for your child—and you. Homemade play dough is inexpensive, nontoxic, and fun for children to help make. This recipe is used at many preschools and children’s museums. 

Uncooked Play Dough

4 cups flour

1 cup salt

4 tablespoons cream of tartar

2 cups water 

3 tablespoons cooking oil 

Children enjoy mixing all the ingredients together in a large bowl or dishpan. Uncooked play dough can be stored in a covered container. Here are some ideas for play dough time: 

• Food coloring can be added to the water, but plain white dough is also fun to explore. When you want to change the color, use your finger to poke a hole in a ball of white dough and add a few drops of food coloring. Seal the hole shut and have your child knead the dough. It will gradually change color.
• Like Kim’s mommy, try dividing the dough in two, coloring one half yellow and the other blue. As your child plays, the two colors will blend and a new one will appear.
• State any rules in a way that emphasizes what your toddler should do. You might want to say, “Keep the play dough on the table.”  (Saying “Don’t drop play dough on the floor” draws attention to dropping it.)
• Let your child explore the dough without any tools at first. When children use their hands to squeeze and prod play dough, they’re strengthening the very muscles needed for using crayons, pens, and pencils.
• Add tools such as rolling pins, Popsicle sticks, and cookie cutters when your child’s interest wanes.  As this episode of “Kim and Carrots” shows, toy animals are fun—and so are small cars and trucks.