How To Make Play Tough

Words: 1120
Pages: 5

Young children enjoy working on projects that encourage them to use their creativity. As a result, it is important to give them sufficient opportunities to express themselves. Projects should be interesting and age-appropriate in order for the students to enjoy the process, as well as give them a sense of pride in what they do. It should also cater to the five selves, ensuring that the whole child is accounted for. A simple project that can be done under these criteria is allowing children to manipulate play dough as they see fit.
To begin this project, the teacher will engage the students in making play dough, using the following basic recipe: 3 cups flour, ¼ cup salt, 6 teaspoons oil, enough dry tempera to color it, and about ¾ to 1 cup water (Hendrick & Weissman, 2011). The students are encouraged to measure the ingredients and assist in mixing them. The ingredients used are simple enough to be handled by the students and the method is easy to follow with the assistance of the teacher. This recipe also requires no cooking, is
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First, they get to use their imagination. By using play dough as an open-ended material, children get to stretch their imaginations, consequently enhancing their creativity and problem-solving skills. An article by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (2016) states that, “Open-ended materials have an infinite number of uses, limited only by your child’s imagination. By giving your child recycled, open-ended materials to play with, not only are you fostering her creativity and problem-solving skills, but you are saving money, as well.” Secondly, through the use of play dough in creative play, children are allowed the chance to showcase their ideas. This is achieved because they are allowed to come up with ideas on what they want to create and then they are given the chance to produce it without interference from