Are you looking for a no cook playdough recipe without cream of tartar? You won’t be disapointed in this easy playdough recipe for kids, with visual step by step instructions, material labels, and sequencing visuals.

Making homemade playdough is a fun and easy sensory activity for kids in preschool, kindergarten, special education and autism classrooms. It also helps them build literacy skills, math skills, motor skills and social skills.

You can make this easy no cook playdough recipe for kids with just a few materials you probably already have in your kitchen or school staff room. You don’t need cream of tartar, hot water or any cooking appliances - only flour, salt, oil, water and food coloring (optional).

This no cook playdough recipe is so easy that most children can do it independently, or with a little guidance from you! They can follow the step by step instructions with visual aids (pictures) to help guide them through the recipe.

Making play dough is one of my all time favourite play based learning activities because it benefits students in SO many ways.

Students can:

✓ learn math concepts such as measurement

✓ build their literacy skills as they read the instructions

✓ develop sequencing skills as they follow the recipe

✓ observe the scientific chemical reactions that happen

✓ learn how primary colours can be mixed to create secondary colours (art)

✓ strengthen their fine and gross motor skills through stirring, mixing, kneading, rolling out, and building with the play dough.

✓ practice social skills such as taking turns and sharing

✓ develop emotional regulation skills as they wait for their turn

This activity can be done in a large group, in small groups, or one-on-one with individual students. It’s perfect for toddlers but also students in prek, preschool, kindergarten, special education and autism classrooms.

If you’re making homemade playdough with students in your classroom, I find this activity works really well in small groups of 5 children. Because the no cook playdough recipe includes 5 simple steps, this allows each child to have a turn to complete one of the steps independently.

The last step is adding the food coloring, so if this student has a hard time waiting for their turn, you can remind them that they have the special job of choosing the color of the playdough. Or, you can vote on the color as a group by doing a survey and collecting data through tallys or a graph (which is another way you can incorporate math skills into this activity).

So, if you’re looking for a fun sensory activity for the classroom, look no further than this no cook printable playdough recip without cream of tartar.

Your students will be engaged in play based learning, and you’ll be left with soft playdough you can use over and over!

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