Sensory Art Play with Easy Dough

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My friend Asia from Fun at Home with Kids has a new book! It’s called 150+ Screen Free Activities for Kids and it’s literally awesome. There are recipes for everything under the sun, from flubber to slime, moon sand to fizzy slush. There are also sections on homemade paints, small worlds, and DIY toys. If only I had had this book when my kids were little!! I would have used it every day, I swear.

I decided to make some easy dough, which was something I had never tried before. I have made lots of play dough, but I wanted a no-cook, quick version (just 2 ingredients). My 4-yr old art class kids would be my testers. Let the fun begin!!

Easy Dough:

1 cup backing soda

2.5 – 3 tblspns water

food coloring or liquid watercolor

I made five colors and rolled them into balls. I also put out a few trays of stuff for them to tinker around with. I loved seeing what they chose and how they used all of the small parts.

The dough is more like wet sand, not really like play dough. I love this little girl’s face as she squeezes and smushes it through her fingers. It has a really satisfying feel and quality. Like, you know when you walk on the beach and you get closer to the water and your feet sort of sink into the sand? Well that’s close to what this easy dough is like. Just really cool.

This little artist made an island zoo. She used the cork to smooth out the sides, and added straw bits for grass.

I love the progression of this purple mound. First she touched and rolled, then shaped and added parts. Then she took little bits of other colors and finally she discovered that pushing in the corks was just soooo fun. Process art and play at it’s finest!

Although this dough looks messy, it really wasn’t that bad. Just a little sweep of the floor. The best part was that when I put the dough in the plastic bags, my own kids (much older) came home from school and all of them played with the “sensory bags” the whole night. Yet another use for easy dough!

Buy the book for the recipe!! It’s a must. You will be so happy to have it at your fingertips on rainy days (and sunny days)!. In fact, it would be an amazing holiday gift for your mom friends with little kids, along with a kit of some of the ingredients. Sort of like this one.

Buy the book here, or click over to Asia’s blog to find all of the places you can buy her book outside of the USA.

xo, Bar