{This post contains affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.} 

So I have made a couple batches of gluten free play dough.  Even glitter gluten free play dough.  And scented gluten free play dough.  I used my recipe.  This time, I decided to try something new.  Bad idea.

Note to self: follow the recipe

I made a couple big mistakes….

We used this gluten-free play dough recipe from Celiac Family.  I didn’t have white rice flour, so I substituted Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten Free flour.  Mistake.  This play-dough ended up really cracky and not moldable.  Don’t change the ingredients, bottom line.

The second mistake was that I followed the recipe in the way they suggested I add color.  They said I should make the play dough, put into balls, put a hole in the center of the balls, and then add the color in the center of your ball and “knead” it in.  This did not work.  I kneaded it and kneaded it.  The color did not distribute well.  The kids really didn’t mind, but it looks a little awful.

I will be sticking with my original method and add color to the liquid while making play dough.

At least it smelled heavenly

For the scented portion, as this is a scented play dough celebration, I added that with the food coloring in the hole of the ball of dough.  I think I would probably do that again.  The only good thing about this dough was the scent.

We chose three colors and three scents: orange essential oil in orange, lavender essential oil in purple, and peppermint essential oil in green.  They smelled deliciously amazing.

So I hate making play dough

Maybe it’s because I have to make it gluten free. But I am a little fed up.  I gave our last batch (a really great smelling, glittery, beautifully colored batch) to our church preschool.  So John could go in without my being worried they were playing with generic play dough and he’d break out in a rash.

I think I’ll get over my funk about cooking play dough.  I still love love love sensory play, but just not the cooked play dough.  I think I’ll buy my next round from this wonderful play dough making Etsy mama.

Sensory play can enhance language skills!

Reading and Writing activities could include:

• writing a letter with objects (such as blocks) in the play dough
• writing a letter with a finger in the dough
• searching for small plastic letters in the dough {you could use my free upper and lowercase charts}
• building words with hidden letters in the dough
• stamping plastic letters into the dough

Speaking:  Talk to your child about their sensory exploration and experiences.  Ask what she likes about it, what she feels, what she thinks.  When I hear her responses, I can repeat and expand what he says by using more complex speech. “Oooh!”  ”Ooh it feels so soft, doesn’t it!?” Even at her very earlier age, this shows her sentence structures and teaches a broader vocabulary.

Listening: Listening to what they have to say about the experience.  This may be inaudible in younger children, like my daughter.  Sensory play may bring out new sounds or words in their vocabulary — words and noises that come with the play time!  Encourage this language building time by sitting down and simply hearing them.

Viewing: Let your child play without interference.  You can be there without jumping in.  Allow them to experience the senses they are experiencing around them.  (Of course, always use caution when choosing materials that are age-appropriate and ability-appropriate for your child.  If they are still “mouthing,” don’t give them inedible sensory items!)

Invitation to Play

We got our Melissa & Doug play dough tools out, along with some feathers and our letter stampers.

John made swords with the dough and letter stampers.  He did play for over an hour, at least that was  a success!  He also guessed the mint and orange scents!  He loved smelling them, so that was fun too :)

My son tried to stamp with our stampers, but the dough was way too awful.  Here is our current letter of the week.  And May just threw the play dough on the floor.  Rejected.

We live and learn :)

This post is a part of the Best of the Best Sensory Doughs: 12 Months of Sensory Dough!  Every month, on the 12th of the month, we will be sharing a post on a different sensory dough.  

Here are the wonderful co-hosts – check out their posts:

Lemon Lime Adventures, Delightful Learning, Glittering Muffins, I Heart Crafty Things, Little Bins for Little Hands, Look! We’re Learning!, Natural Beach Living, Powerful Mothering, Still Playing School, The Eyes of a Boy, The Life of Jennifer Dawn

Do you have a post on Scented Play-Dough that you’d like to share? Please link below!  Please read the following guidelines before linking up:

• Share family-friendly posts related to the month’s theme. Feel free to link old or new posts that highlight your favorite recipes for sensory dough. Failures and unsuccessful attempts are welcome.

• We ask that no posts are linked with copy/paste recipes from other sources. If you use a recipe from another source, please link back to the original recipe.

• By linking up, you give permission to share your post and one photograph in future posts and through social media channels.

• The linky will remain open for two weeks. On the 12th of each month, all co-hosts will post a new dough with their spin, highlighting at least one post from the month before and pin each post to the 12 Months of Sensory Dough Board.