Rethink PlayDough: Getting Creative With PlayDough in Speech

PlayDough is one of the world’s special, timeless creations. No matter how old you are, if there is PlayDough on the table, it will end up in your hands.  We know that PlayDough is a great therapy reinforcer and sensory tool, but today, I want to help you expand your PlayDough horizons with some ideas for different uses!

1. Articulation

Use PlayDough to shape a tongue and help students understand placement for articulation. Students can use the artificial tongue to show you what their tongue is doing if they are having a difficult time producing a sound.

2. Make Your Own

There are tons of make your own PlayDough recipes out there! Just type it into Pinterest; you won’t know which one to pick! Choose from scented, colored, allergy-aware, textured, and more. Making your own PlayDough is one of those activities that can take care of just about all your sessions for the day (heck, maybe even week)! I have a great two-ingredient recipe you can check out and download for free. Just click HERE.

3. Describing

When working on describing visuals are a necessity!  Have your students make an item out of PlayDough and describe it. I found things  like a snake or snowman are easiest for younger kids or students with fine motor difficulties.

4. Following Directions 

A more classic example, but sometimes we all need to be reminded, especially when we tend to focus on technology. If you’re looking to go old-school for a session or two, grab your PlayDough and work on 2-3 step directions. You can have kids flatten out the PlayDough and draw on it with their fingers, or use mini cookie cutters to make shapes in a certain order. There are soooo many possibilities!

5. Hide and Peek

This one is always a winner. Take small objects or toy and wrap them up in PlayDough. Pro tip: put your items in those little containers that toys from vending machines come in to avoid picking dough from the nooks and crannies of little toys all evening.  Have students guess and give clues about what the mystery item could be.  Once they have guessed it, let them uncover it.

I hope these remind you of old favorites or give you some new things to try. Long live the power of PlayDough!