Tips for Making Play-Doh FUN! (not stressful)
In 1956 the wonderful world of Play-Doh began. Can you believe it’s been 60 years of squishing and squashing? So much creative fun has been had thanks to Play-Doh! Well, to celebrate Play-Doh is throwing a party and Chickadee & Sprout are loving partaking in the fun of World Play-Doh Day!!
I first have to thank Play-Doh for sending over the PLAY-DOH TOWN 3 in 1 TOWN CENTER Playset and the PLAY-DOH ICE CREAM CASTLE Playset. They have been at our house a little over a week and Chickadee has played with them almost EVERY DAY!
We have so much fun playing with PLAY-DOH at our house, but I realized when a few friends came over last Friday that Play-doh causes a lot of stress for some moms :) Well, I am here to tell you that just shouldn’t be the case. And I have a few tips make sure creating with Play-Doh is a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone!
1. My favorite tip when playing with Play-Doh is using a vinyl tablecloth on the floor as their play space. The rule is that all Play-Doh has to stay on the tablecloth. This way the kids aren’t walking all over the house with Play-Doh and potentially dropping/smashing it into the carpet. It also makes for easy cleanup. After putting all the Play-Doh and playsets away I simply dump the “crumbs” into the trash or outside for easy clean up!
2. Chickadee and Sprout are only allowed to use 2-3 colors at a time. This prevents a couple of stressful scenarios. First, it makes sure all the Play-Doh is being used and none is sitting around “drying out” because it was opened but not being played with. Also, it prevents mixing. After talking with my mom friends I found that when kids mix Play-Doh colors together it stresses them out and makes them want to put the Play-Doh away. Less colors…less mixing.
3. They will still probably mix colors & IT IS OKAY. Sit back and let them create!
4. A toothpick is great for getting little bits of Play-Doh out of small holes and tubes in the playsets.
5. When cleaning up, ball up the color you are cleaning up and use it as a “stamp” to pick up the other small pieces of that color.
There are so many great creative and educational uses for Play-Doh. Sprout isn’t quite old enough to play independently with Play-Doh (he still finds it tasty). One thing he loves to do and pull off pieces and let me roll them into balls. We then count the balls as we put them back into the cup! Chickadee loves using cookie cutters when she plays with Play-Doh. Every now and then we’ll use the letter cutters and spell words.
So, why do you love Play-Doh? If it used to bring you stress do you promise to give it another go using a few of my stress-free tips? I promise it will be fun for everyone!
Happy 60th Birthday Play-Doh!!
You just resolved my biggest problem with Play Doh; how to keep it from ending up in my rugs or stuck to the wood – that vinyl tablecloth idea is fantastic. Do you have any tips for getting it out of long hair (without a lot of crying and screaming) and out of the dog’s fur?
Yay! I’m so glad to share ideas that readers find useful! It’s been a game changer in our house :)