Salt dough creations - developing Fine Motors kills

Here are just a few of the benefits of playing with Saltdough/playdoh. Developing Fine Motor Skills – As children manipulate the dough by squashing it, squeezing it, patting and rolling it this helps build the strength in their hand muscles, ready for helping develop further skills such as scissor and pencil control.

Making salt dough is a really fun and easy activity for kids and the chances are you will have all of the ingredients in the cupboard ready to go. Children will love using their imaginations to create all sorts of exciting objects (although simple shapes do seem to work best) and hours of fun painting their creations, but do take care to remind little ones that the salt dough is not edible. Let the little ones help you. Let them weigh the ingredients. Explaining scales and even where the ingredients might come from. And I don't mean the Supermarket.

Makes 1 ball Prep 10 minutes Cook 3 hours

• 1 cupful of plain flour (about 250g)

• half a cupful of table salt (about 125g)

• half a cupful of water (about 125ml)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to its lowest setting and line a baking sheet with baking parchment. 2. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the water and stir until it comes together into a ball. 3. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and shape into your chosen model. You can roll it out and cut out shapes, numbers or letters using biscuit cutters, or make any kind of model you can think of. We made some fruit and veg shapes plus cupcakes for a teddy bear’s picnic.

4. Put your finished items on the lined baking sheet and bake for 3 hrs or until solid.

5. Leave to cool and then paint.

Top tips

• Simple designs work best, as the dough isn’t sturdy until baked. If your child can’t decide between a tall giraffe or a flatter gecko, for example, steer them towards the gecko. Form letters, numbers, pretend cupcakes, or even a memory of our lock down 2020. Also bear in mind that the bigger/fatter the model, the longer it will take to harden in the oven.

• Try using silicone baking sheets to roll out the shapes without the need for extra flour. This saves on cleaning up your kitchen. Silicone sheets are also a quick way to bake without needing baking parchment.

Lot of you already have drawn lots of wonderful pictures and build fabulous creations. Don't forget to practise writing your name (mark make for the little ones), so mum/dad/loved ones will know who done your wonderful creation. If you know already how to write it. Please start practicing your surname. We