The Importance of Play Dough
Did you know the original Playdoh was suppose to be wallpaper cleaner? And, that it was invented in 1956 and only came in off white color? And, that 700 million pounds of Playdoh have been sold since then? Wow! And, that National Playdoh Day is September 18? In my preschool classroom, the students always have access to play dough during their play times. I have found that it is important for teachers to offer it daily for the following reasons. 1. Parents don't always allow it at home mostly because it is messy. 2. It is a great fine motor and hand muscle exercises. Molding, cutting, pushing, rolling all help little muscle and can even get out a little aggression. 3. It can help improve social skills as student work together. 4. Students can work on letter recognition by using cookie cutter letters or rolling dough into a worm to form letter. Here is some neat play dough letter mats. from 1+1=1 and more here 5. Ch...