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.
Learning and Development
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Activities such as squeezing, pressing, poking and patting help children develop coordination and stimulate brain development, strengthening neural connections in the brain.
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Engaging in tactile play exercises hand and finger muscles which is crucial for developing fine motor skills.
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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.
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Introducing textures, colours and smells adds to the sensory experience. Teachers often create playdough with different sensory properties, prompting engaging discussions.
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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.
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As children engage with playdough or clay, they make decisions and solve problems about what to create. This encourages critical thinking and planning.
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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.
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Sensory experiences activate brain connections, helping children learn to use their senses actively to understand and interact with the world around them.
How clay & playdough relates to the primary school curriculum
Continuing Learning at Home
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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.