Nursery World - Whose dough is it?

As an early years trainer I have been reading the 'playdough' correspondence on the Letters page with a little surprise. All this talk about adults making the dough - what about the children making it? Quite apart from the enormous fun of some messy play, the opportunities for maths (quantity, capacity, volume, and so on), science (how things change and particularly problem solving - too much water?) and language (creatively using words describing the range of sensory experiences) are enormous. Personal, social and emotional development and knowledge and understanding of the world are also very much in evidence.

Personal, social and emotional development and knowledge and understanding of the world are also very much in evidence.

I am a little concerned, too, about the implications of dough 'lasting for ages'. I suggest you make uncoloured dough and compare the different colours at the beginning and end of a session before deciding how long to keep it. Weekly or more frequent dough-making sessions would not be expensive.

Chris O'Brien

Brentwood, Essex

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