DIY Green Tea Sensory Playdough
This page may contain affiliate links. Learn More.
My little ones enjoy mixing the ingredients and choosing the colors for playdough. This DIY Green Tea Sensory Playdough also has a wonderful aroma as well. Check out all these sensory activity ideas for daycare too.
This green tea playdough is a great sensory activity and science activity for kids.
Benefits of Playdough
Anyone can run to the store to purchase playdough, but I love knowing exactly what ingredients are inside. And there are so many benefits of playdough.
It develops fine motor skills and creativity as kids use their hands to manipulate the playdough. It’s calming. Similar to the effects of a stress ball, playing with playdough helps ease tension.
Eye-hand coordination is developed through playing with playdough and tools that manipulate it. Playing with playdough supports literacy and numeracy as children learn. It also improves social skills as you interact with them and they interact with each other while using it.
It also is a great opportunity for unstructured play which is the most important activity for kids.
Baby Safe Playdough
Knowing what’s in your playdough and those ingredients being common cooking ingredients helps you know that it’s safe to play with. You can eat it, and while it might not taste good, we all know kids try to put everything in their mouths. Especially babies!
This playdough even has the health benefits of green tea.
Bulk Playdough
This playdough will last if kept sealed tightly for weeks. So you can make as much as you want and use it over and over again. At daycare, I like to throw out the playdough we use because kids aren’t always the most sanitary beings. So I don’t know how many bugers or what not are in the dough. I just give them some and when we are done, we throw it away. Making it in bulk is great for me because of this.
There are a lot of great reasons to make playdough.
- It’s easy and fun
- It’s made with what’s on hand
- It encourages kids to use their imagination
- It’s an amazing sensory experience
A batch of sensory playdough takes only a few minutes to make but gives the kids hours of enjoyment. And you don’t even need food coloring. White playdough is awesome too. This playdough is naturally colored with green tea and highlighted with flecks of wonderful green tea leaves.
Sensory Playdough
This playdough has an extra added sensory component of scent. Green tea smells so intoxicating.
DIY Green Tea Sensory Playdough
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup salt
- 1 Tablespoon cream of tartar
- 1 cup water
- 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
- 4 bags of green tea
Instructions
- Add the flour, salt and cream of tartar to a medium mixing bowl.
- Open 2 of the tea bags and pour the contents into the flour mixture.
- Whisk to combine and set aside.
- Microwave a cup of water until boiling.
- Add the remaining 2 green tea bags and steep for 3-4 minutes.
- Pour the hot tea into a saucepan or medium mixing bowl.
- Add the vegetable oil to the hot tea mixture. Stir to mix.
- Gently pour the flour mixture into the saucepan/bowl and stir continuously until a large lump of playdough forms.
- Allow the dough to cool for 5 minutes before handling.
- Transfer the playdough to a flat working space and knead for 3-4 minutes or until soft and pliable.
- Store in an airtight container (or Ziploc bag) for up to 2 weeks.
Science and Sensory Activities for Toddlers
Check out these sensory ideas for kids:
- How to plant a sensory garden for kids
- Homemade kinetic sand recipe
- Ice play for kids
- DIY sensory bins
Check out these science ideas for kids:
There are tons of homemade art supplies other than playdough that you can make at home with what you have too!
Sounds like i would like to smell and play with this as well… Going to try it now !!! 🙂
Enjoy! It’s lots of fun!