Valentine's Playdough Activity

Combine playdough with Valentine's Day as the perfect, quick set up activity for your little ones. Fill with hearts, pinks, reds and purples and let them use their imagine to create their own Valentine's creations.

Playdough is one of our favourite go to activities. The options are limitless and that's why I love using this resource. 

There are numerous benefits involved while children are playing with playdough. When your child is molding, rolling, squeezing or shaping playdough it is building up strength in their hands. All these movements encourage fine motor development which will help children at school with holding pencils and scissors. It is also great for enhancing hand-eye coordination especially when combined with various tools such as rolling pins, cutters and plastic knifes. 

Playdough set up can be as elaborate or simple as you like. It is regularly one of our go to after school activities. It is really easy to incorporate playdough into important events and topics. With Valentine's Day coming up soon, this is a really easy after school activity or toddler set up. 

Valentine's Playdough Activity

For this activity I raided our craft/supply drawer for anything that was remotely relevant. I used some pom poms, buttons, gems, hearts and heart cookie cutters. You can use whatever you have around your house. Some ideas include:

Heart cookie cutters

Gems

Beads

Pipe cleaners

Googly eyes

Pom poms

Buttons

Pasta

Stones

Feathers

Craft matchsticks

Marbles

Shells

I used a divided tray to set this up but you could use, individual bowls, a muffin tin, paint pots or any little containers you have. I didn't make my own playdough but when I do make my own I use a recipe from The Imagination Tree. For this activity I used our tuff spot tray as I always find it a great base but you can do it wherever you like.

I did this activity during covid self isolation so I had my youngest two at home (age 4 and 7). It was mainly for the four year old but actually the seven year old got a lot out of the activity. The four year old needed some help with rolling the playdough but my seven year old was completely independent. They both had fun choosing their own decorations. I love how both of them chose completely different routes which is the joy of this kind of play, there is no right or wrong way to play, it is completely open ended. 

This activity is perfect as it is but you can add some learning opportunities:

Create repeating patterns 

Add a ruler or cubes to measure length 

Use scales to measure weight

Create patterns using only odd or even values

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For more Valentine's activities you may like:

Valentines Sensory Box

Love Heart Stamp Painting

Valentines Angel Delight Sensory Play