I hope you all know that you can use PlayDough for LITERALLY any and all language goals! Throw in some cookie cutters, maybe a rolling pin or two and you've got yourself a great language rich, sensory filled activity.
I have yet to meet a child who doesn't love PlayDough. If I know my kid is super motivated by it, I make sure that they know that they are working for PlayDough time (AKA a language lesson that happens to include using play dough :D).
You can hide things in PlayDough to help support OT skills, have them make guesses about what's inside, "do you think its a big toy or a small toy?", "do you think its an animal or a vehicle?", have them request colors, cookie cutters, molds, rolling pins, and if you don't have OCD like me and allow the kids to mix the colors, you can talk about what colors they can make if you mix two colors together! The possibilities are endless!
PlayDough is also perfect for our kiddos who need that sensory break mid session. They can take a minute in between activities to squish the PlayDough, roll the PlayDough, pull toys out of the play dough, literally anything that they want to get that tension out.
PlayDough is great for...
Vocabulary expansion (colors, shapes, sizes, vocabulary specific to the play dough toys you are using)
1/2/3 step directions
Critical element expansion
Requesting: "CAN I have the..."
Great for sensory breaks
Play dough mats ("tracing" letters, numbers, shapes, making faces on blank people)
Imaginative play
How do you like to use PlayDough in your sessions?!
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