Make your own playdough!
Everybody loves playdough, especially me. It’s a universal soother for toddlers through grownups! Have it out on the table for children to play with as they arrive in the morning and they’ll immediately become engaged, making goodbyes with parents a little easier. It lends itself to great conversation and imaginative play (everybody makes playdough snakes and slithers them around the table…) Make a fresh batch often, changing colors and mix-ins to keep it fun.
I’ve made this playdough AT LEAST 50 times… it always comes out great! It can be made WITH children (you cook it) and they’ll enjoy kneading with the warm dough when it’s cool enough to handle. Add a little vanilla or lemon extract to make it smell yummy. And while it doesn’t exactly taste good, it’s totally safe if little ones eat it! 
Store your playdough in an airtight container or ziplock bag and it will keep for weeks. Change out your playdough toys often to keep it interesting. Here are some ideas:
- cookie cutters (of course!)
- rollers that make designs
- plasticware, esp knives for cutting
- straws (cut some into small pieces, have some flexibles ones)
- placemat with shapes that they can make playdough fit into
- leggo and duplo blocks
- googly eyes
- mr. potato head pieces
- cars
- large bolts, washers and tools for molding
- safety scissors
Fun mix-ins include cinnamon, glitter, dry tempera paint, which makes more vibrant colors!
Watch how this 2-year old focuses so hard to use her hands to place the straws in the playdough. After doing this for a while, we added some manicotti pasta to thread onto the straws, making it a little more challenging. What a simple way to work on those fine-motor skills!