Inside: Learn about simple and easy Playdough creations to have fun and connect with your child.
Playdough has so many endless opportunities to play with! We love coming up with new Playdough ideas to help expand the play ideas and my kids imagination. We love to roll the Playdough into small pieces, roll it into snake shapes, smash it on the table, or mix in new colors. We put together a list of some of our favorite ways to play with Playdough.
Playdough Ideas
Playing with Playdough has so many endless opportunities! It can feel overwhelming sometimes though because there are a lot of different options. I love trying to choose Playdough activities that the child is interested in or finding new ways to play.
I wanted to create a go to resource for when you are needing more Playdough Ideas or new ways to add more fun to your Playdough play adventures.
Simple and Fun Playdough Creations
We put together some of our favorite Simple Playdough Creations! Check them all out below.

Making Monsters
We love making little monsters with Playdough and adding in googly eyes and pipe cleaners for arms and legs.
Building things with Toothpicks
We love building different shapes and structures by adding toothpicks to our play! We just roll the Playdough into small balls to connect the toothpicks and to create new shapes and buildings.
Making Imprints
We love using toy figures, cars, animal feet, letters and number stamps to make imprints into the Playdough. We use our little rolling pin and get the Playdough flat then add in little imprints. We love to guess what we used to make the imprints as well.
Making Food Items
We love making new food items out of Playdough. We love to make pancakes, pizza, ice cream scoops, cake, and pies out of Playdough.
Making Animals
We love coming up with new ways to make animals with our Playdough. We love making snakes, snails, turtles, dogs, cats, dinosaurs, and bunnies out of our Playdough.
Tire tracks in the Playdough
Cars are a super fun addition to our Playdough! We love making tire tracks in the Playdough.
Making Train and Car Prints Puzzles
Trains and cars have been a super fun addition to Playdough. We make imprints of the bottoms or sides the cars or trains and then create a puzzle for the child to match the correct car or train to the imprint. We get to play detective and it is so much fun!
Dinosaur Fossils
Making dinosaur imprints in the Playdough is another great activity especially if your child loves to play with dinosaurs!
Adding Mr. Potato Head Pieces
Another fun one is adding Mr. Potato head pieces to a Playdough made potato to create fun and silly faces and bodies.
Check out these resources for even more Playdough Ideas:
- 35+ Things to Make with Play Dough: Pretend, Create, Learn by Hands On as we Grow
- Playdough Ideas by PreKinders.com
- 17+ Playdough Activities for Kids by Little Bins for Little Hands
Are you looking for some fun Playdough mats to help your child? Get your free number Playdough mats below by entering your email address.

Super fun things to add to Playdough to Expand the Play
We love adding loose parts to our Playdough creations to expand the play experience! My first tip when playing with Playdough is to start simple and then add in loose parts to help expand the play.
When we play with Playdough we like to add in:
- pony beads
- pipe cleaners
- popsicle sticks
- golf tees
- googly eyes
- gems
- dried spaghetti
- pom poms
- sequins
- tiny toy figures
- buttons
If you are looking for even more things you can add to your Playdough Creations check out 75+ Things to Add to Playdough to Make it More Fun by No Time for Flash Cards.

Pretend Play with Playdough Ideas
Ice Cream Shop
Ice cream is such a fun and easy thing to make with playdough. We love adding little bowls and spoons and pretending to take ice cream orders.
Restaurant
When we play with Playdough at the kitchen table we love to make a little restaurant. We have someone take orders and someone make the food items out of Playdough. It is so fun to see your child’s creativity.
Feeding Animals
We have a lot of animal figures and we love to create a little farm set up or zoo set up. Then we make food items out of the Playdough and feed the animals. This is great to act out different animal sounds and to learn about what foods the animals eat.
Construction Trucks Building Site
My son absolutely loves construction trucks. We love creating a little building site area with dump trucks and excavators. We make small rocks and dirt piles with the Playdough for the trucks to build and dump with.
Dino Dig Site
We also really enjoy playing with dinosaurs. We love creating a little dig site where we burry the dinosaurs in the Playdough “dirt” and we have to dig them out. We get to talk about the different dinosaurs and it creates a fun atmosphere.

Educational Learning Ideas
There are endless opportunities to add specific learning opportunities to your Playdough play adventures.
Patterns
You could create different patterns out of Playdough “balls” for the child to work on copying.
Different Sizes
You could use different sized cookie cutters or just make different sizes of shapes you are making out the Playdough. You could discuss which ones are small, medium, and large.
Colors
We love mixing different Playdough colors tougher to see what new color we can create. You could work on mixing colors and having your child guess which color you will make.
Counting
As you are playing with different Playdough shapes you could work on counting how many your child makes. For example if you are making animal food or food items for a pretend play restaurant you could count how many food items you are making.
Shapes
You could work on making different shapes out of Playdough and have your child identity the shapes you are making.
Making Letters
You could roll the Playdough int a “snake” shape and have your child form different letters out of the Playdough.
Making Numbers
Have your child roll the Playdough into a “snake” shape and have your child form different numbers. If your child loves ice cream as much as mine do, you could use these FREE Ice Cream Number Playdough Mats to help give your child a visual on how to form the different numbers. Get your FREE copy by entering your email below.

Roll the Dice Game
If you have a dice you could have your child roll the dice and see which number they get. Then they can form small “balls” out of the Playdough and make the correct number according to the dice.
Cutting with Scissors
Using Playdough scissors of kids scissors you can roll the Playdough into different shapes and work on cutting it. We love to play hair shop by rolling the Playdough into “snakes” and then trimming the hair with the scissors.
Writing your Name
You could model how to form the letters of your child’s name with Playdough and have them make their name as well.
Benefits of Playdough
There are so many different benefits to playing with Playdough. I have even more ideas for you! Check out these super awesome posts about the benefits of using Playdough to help your child with playing, learning, and development.
7 Benefits of Playing with Playdough by Sunshine House
The Benefits of Playdough for Early Childhood by Parenting Chaos
Playdough Ideas for fine motor skills

Working with and manipulating Playdough is a great way to develop hand strength and skills to help your child’s fine motor skills. You can work on shoulder, arm, and hand strengthening, pincer grasp, tripod grasp, bilateral coordination, finger isolation, thumb opposition, and hand-eye coordination. Check out these great resources if you are looking for specific ideas on how to help improve your child’s fine motor skills with Playdough activities.
- 12 Simple Playdough Activities for Preschoolers by Mama OT
- 20+ Playdough Activities to Develop Fine Motor Skills by the Stay At Home Educator
- Fine Motor Activities with Playdough by the OT Toolbox
- Improving Fine Motor Skills with Playdough Dough by Little Hands Pediatric Therapy
Playdough Activities
If you loved these Playdough Ideas and would love to have even more ideas for your toolbox. Be sure to check out all of these Fun and Creative Playdough Activities to Help Kids Learn!
Playdough Mats
If you are looking fore more visuals or ways to keep exploring and learning with Playdough, I have put together an amazing resource full of Playdough Mats. Check out these Playdough Mats to Help your Child Learn and Develop Fine Motor Skills!
Playdough Kits
