Play-Doh Fun

My boys LOVE Play-Doh, I think they could make tire tracks and Dino footprints all day if I let them. In the last few days our 18.5 month old has been asking  to play more and more with Play-Doh. Most of the time he's pretty good about not eating it and not throwing it, but there are days I can't keep him from doing either one of those things. It can be torture! 

Anyway, two days in a row he's proved that he can follow directions if he wants to. So, I stead of making tracks, I decided to see how he was at some fine motor skills. I showed Theo how to roll the Doh like a snake or into a ball and he mimicked. 

I showed him how to cut and he cut!

With a lot of care actually, odd for this child. We practiced making shapes with our rolled Doh (like circles and lines) and he even made a T for Theo! We did a lot of color practice too. For a tactile learner like Theo, learning the colors has proven to be difficult. But when we pull out the Doh, he actually does a pretty good job as he touches and examines each color.

And of course I couldn't keep the cars away forever, but instead of Hot Wheels, I got out construction vehicles and had him tell me which kind of vehicle it was and asked him to use the Doh like the vehicle would. Here he is using a forklift. He liked this one the best because he could squish it while he placed it on properly.

Play-Doh is one of those toys you can do anything with, and the fun lasts all day (at least in our house). I've just discovered that for a kid that has to be hands on all the time, this activity is a great one.