Just a sample of this year’s family baking output, complete with awesomely geeky new Star Wars cookie cutters to complement the traditional holiday shapes.
The Christmas season is so very strongly associated with cookie dough for me that it seemed the perfect time to explore some of the very many cool options involving doughy substances in art and science.
There are a number of good blogs out there that offer round-ups of fun things to do with play dough, so rather than repeat them, I will first point you to a few of my favorite existing aggregates:
12 props to use with play dough
137 cool activities and ideas for play dough
39 Ways to Use Play Dough from the Artful Parent (one of my absolute favorites)
And in true interdisciplinary fashion, here is an assortment of my play dough examples from across subject areas:
Science:
Discussing Play Dough as a Way to introduce the scientific thought process
History:
History of the Invention of Play-Doh
Literacy and Storytelling:
Art and Politics:
Award winning political play dough by Ian Williams
Artist Ian Williams’ Obama, Romney Play-Doh Creations Win Award
And finally, a few recipes for inspiration:
Playdough for the Allergy- and Eco-Sensitive
- Gluten Free Dough (be sure to check the comments for variations on the recipe)
- Natural Herbal Dough
- Natural Dyes for Play Dough
Playdough to Delight the Senses
Recipes for Interesting Smells
- Chocolate play dough (requires cooking)
- Cranberry, vanilla, chocolate, marzipan, allspice scented doughs
- Eucalyptus play dough and cloud dough (great if you have a cold!)
Recipes for Interesting Consistencies
- Traditional Cloud Dough
- Drawing Dough (more liquid, so you can create designs via squirt bottle)
- Cornmeal Dough (sandier texture than flour-based recipes)
Recipes for Interesting Visuals
Not enough? Check out this extremely thorough play dough focused Pinterest board
