Play Doh is a fun and entertaining activity that kids of all ages love, so we’ve got a great Play Doh shapes activity for you today.
Even better though, playing with Play Doh can also help develop essential fine motor skills? When combined with toothpicks, the possibilities for creativity and learning are endless.
With this printable, we are sharing one of our favourite Play Doh activities with toothpicks that your kids will surely enjoy. We’ll also explain why toothpick and Play Doh activities are beneficial for fine motor skills, and why this activity is perfect for both parents and teachers to try out.
Why should you even bother with this activity, though – how will it help your kids?
Building Play Doh shapes to help with fine motor skills
This Play Doh shapes activity is a great way to improve skills for your kids, including:
1. Muscle strength and control
Play Doh and toothpick activities require kids to pinch, press, and mold the clay with their fingers and hands. As they do this, they are strengthening the muscles in their hands and increasing their control and dexterity. The added challenge of using toothpicks to create shapes and designs further improves hand-eye coordination and creative problem-solving skills.
2. Concentration and focus
Creating different shapes and designs takes time, patience, and attention to detail. As children work on their Play Doh and toothpick creations, they must concentrate on their movements and stay focused on the task at hand. This encourages the development of patience, self-control, and attention span.
3. Imagination and creativity
Play Doh and toothpick activities offer endless possibilities for children to use their imagination and creativity. They can create anything they want, from animals and objects to abstract designs and patterns. This freedom allows them to express themselves and helps to develop their creative thinking skills.
Our Play Doh and toothpick activity also comes with instructions on how to create ten different shapes and designs. This helps children to learn new techniques and refine their skills while having fun and being creative.
What do our Play Doh shapes activities look like?
There are 6 sheets within this worksheet pac, including a cover and our copyright notice. The shapes that you create with the toothpicks and Play Doh include:
- Square,
- Triangle,
- Rectangle,
- Rhombus,
- Pentagon,
- Star,
- Trapezoid, and
- Octagon.
The pages include how to put the toothpicks together, and your child can either follow the guides on the paper, or make their own versions, depending on their age.
In addition, there is tracing practise for the shape words as well. If your child is a little bit older, you could even practise making the letter shapes, but this IS a bit more fiddly to do with the play doh.
This really is a simple idea, but really effective in building confidence and motor skills in kids.
To download the full activity, just click on the button or the image below:
As a parent, you’ll enjoy watching your child’s confidence grow as they successfully create each shape, and as a teacher, you can use this activity to incorporate art and creativity into your lessons.
Playing with Play Doh and toothpicks is a fun, engaging way to develop essential fine motor skills for children of all ages. It offers a multitude of benefits, including muscle strength and control, concentration and focus, and imagination and creativity. By using toothpicks to create shapes, children improve their hand-eye coordination, problem-solving skills, and attention to detail. And with our handy instruction pack, they can learn new techniques and continue to improve their skills. Whether you’re a parent looking for a fun activity for your child or a teacher incorporating art into your curriculum, Play Doh and toothpick activities are a must-try.
So, get your Play Doh and toothpicks ready and let the creativity and learning begin!
If you are after more ideas for activities, check these out too:
Fine motor skills and writing practise
Some further ideas for helping children with their fine motor skills, and writing too.
Making a cutting fine motor skills busy box #31DaysOfLearning
A lovely little busy box for the kids to practise cutting skills - an excellent activity to improve motor skills.
Five activities using kitchen tongs to promote fine motor skills
Get busy in the kitchen to help with the kids motor skills this time!
Printable number lacing cards for kids to sew
Lacing is a wonderful and fun activity for kids - and these number cards are excellent for encouraging it.
Get your Pen License certificate! Pen License and Handwriting Rockstars
If you need to encourage things in older kids - how about a pen license certificate for them to work towards?
Shape tracing for kids
We have simple lines within this activity for the kids, this is more about the shapes than the lines!
Number tracing for kids
Finally, we have some tracing activities based about numbers for you here.....
Or here:
Fine motor skills activities from off site
Here are some more ideas to develop fine motor skills with little hands using everything from pasta to cereal boxes!
Fine Motor Skills Play For Toddlers - Cereal Boxes
Here are some great ideas for toddlers - improving motor skills with cereal boxes. Check them out.
Fine Motor Skills: Tranferring Activities
Transferring activities are a great way to develop those fine motor skills - take a look here and see what you think.
Fine Motor Skills for Preschoolers - Pasta Play
Our final idea is a little pasta play for preschoolers from Mess for Less. Check this out - the perfect complement to play doh and toothpicks! 😂
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We hope to see you back on the site again soon.
Take care,
Helen
Helen
Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine!Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time.KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10.It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania.Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on.Get in touch TODAY!