What child doesn’t love digging into playdough for a few hours of mixing, matching, and shaping their own wonders? Playdough is a wonderful way for children to spend hours playing, but it also has a lot of benefits to them. Here are just a few.
Helps build literacy and numeracy skills
You might not think of playdough as a path to learning reading or math skills, but playdough can be an extremely useful tool to helping children learn. Playdough can be pulled apart to count how many balls can be made, formed into shapes, and details such as colors can be discussed.
All these things can help form a stable base for learning, in a safe and fun way that children enjoy instead of dread.
Builds fine motor skills
Fine motor skills are an important skill that allow kids to wield pencils and make other small, fine movements. Playdough can help strengthen young hands and build these fine motor skills. The same skills required for folding, squishing and shaping playdough are needed for using scissors and other important life skills down the road.
Enhances hand-eye coordination
Another important skill that children develop from playing with playdough is hand-eye coordination. Almost every activity your child will ever attempt requires some degree of hand-eye coordination. You must be able to see what your goal is, know where your body is in relation to that, and perform the correct motion.
Strong hand-eye coordination is useful in all kinds of life skills, from playing sports to simply shaking hands with another person.
Playing with playdough requires you to picture a shape in your head and form it accordingly, a great way to build up hand-eye coordination along with your dazzling creations.
Builds creativity
Playdough is a sandbox style activity where you can build as much as you like, dream up new things, and watch them appear before your eyes through playdough can be an amazing experience. Playdough gives children the ability to unleash their dreams and create all the crazy and silly things they can think of.
Creativity is also an important life skill, though not as easily defined as some other skills. It’s needed for problem solving unique situations, creating new art, and simply for easing boredom on a long day with nothing else to do.
Creativity is a skill that needs to be developed, and playdough is a perfect medium for building up this much needed skill.
Reduces Stress
There’s something calming about sitting there quietly with a bit of playdough, watching new creations come out from your hands. Just like adults often squeeze stress balls to help relieve tension, playing with playdough can help ease stress for young children as well.
Playdough is a wonderful tool that can help children boost their skills, while also having fun at the same time. If your child isn’t regularly playing with playdough, consider making it accessible to them so they can work on building those critical life skills.
