Playdough: Building Motor skills and having fun while learning (with a freebie)

Even as an adult I find playing with playdough very satisfying.  You can make anything and the squish is fun no matter what age you are!

But playing with playdough is not just fun, it has some great benefits!  It helps to strengthen fine motor skills and the muscles used for writing.  We don't usually think about our hand muscles but they are essential to writing, drawing, cutting, etc.  Playdough is one way to strengthen those muscles and help children build stamina they need to be successful.

I love using playdough for academic centers-- making letters, numbers, sight words, etc.  But, I decided to use playdough to liven up my writing center and incorporate some social-emotional learning!

Playdough Faces asks students to make a face using playdough.  They can be as creative and detailed as they want.  It can look like a human face or a silly face.  There is even a chart of emotion ideas to help push them past "happy" and "sad."  There are optional writing pages where students can either describe the face they made or write a story about the character they created.  This ties in those Common Core writing standards in a fun way!  Click on the picture to see it in my store!

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