Category Archives: Preschool activities

How to make sparkly minty play doh at home

sparkle play doh recipe

Liven up play time with this DIY sparkle play-doh recipe the kids can help you make!

Ingredients list:

  • Flour, 2 cups
  • Salt, 1 cup
  • Cream of tarter (powder), 1 tablespoon
  • Glitter, any color, any size, as much as you like (we used about 1/3 cup of silver glitter)
  • Cooking oil, 1 tablespoon
  • Water, 2 cups
  • Food coloring, any color (about 4 drops made a pastel green color)
  • Peppermint extract (optional), 2-3 drops as desired

You’ll also need 1 medium mixing bowl, 1 medium sauce pan or pot, a measuring cup and measuring spoon (1 tablespoon).

1. Measure and mix all of the dry ingredients except the glitter into a mixing bowl; measure the liquids into a medium sized sauce pan.

 

2. Heat the liquids on very low heat just until warmed.

 

3. Slowly pour the dry ingredients in as you stir.

 

4. Turn off the heat once everything becomes a dough and is fairly well combined. Continue to combine the dough in the pan (removed from heat) until most of the powder is incorporated. **You don’t want to heat it too much or it will turn into a dry crumbly mess.**

 

5. Transfer dough to a cutting board or other work surface. Dough will be warm so let it cool for a couple minutes if necessary — just until it is cool enough to handle. It will look crumbly at first, this is ok.

 

6. Work the dough until it looks like soft play-doh. Squash, squeeze and knead for a few minutes until it looks good. If you haven’t already, this is another good point to add peppermint extract (or other food flavoring) to give your play-doh a nice scent. All you need is a few drops.

7. Sprinkle some glitter onto the lump of dough and fold it in. Kids love this part! Add more sprinkles as you fold, if desired.

8. Let your sparkly, minty play-doh fully cool before you store in a plastic storage bag or give it to the kids. This should only take a few minutes. Any longer and it may begin to dry out.

Super-Fun Shopkins Activity: What to do with all those Shopkins

shopkins activity with pink pretzella

Pink Pretz-elle is part of our Shopkins activity that any preschooler will love!

Here’s a Shopkins activity that is sure to win over any kid. What do you do with Shopkins? So your preschooler is part of the Shopkins craze and now you have a million of those tiny grocery-themed thingamajigs that nobody knows what to do with. They’re cute, but what the heck are they for? Who knows, but our friends at ToyPatrol thought up a super-fun Shopkins activity that preschoolers will love to do with their Shopkins Collection: A Shopkins Shaving Cream Surprise! But here’s a warning: It can be messy! But that’s what makes it fun for kids of all ages – especially preschoolers.

To do the easy and fun Shopkins Shaving Cream Surprise activity here’s what you need:

  1. Shopkins (any number will do)
  2. A kid who’s willing to get their hands a bit messy
  3. Shaving cream (get the least expensive white foamy kind, not gel)
  4. Two bowls: One for the shaving cream and one for water
  5. Lots of towels
  6. Newspaper or more towels to put on the floor (or you could do this activity outside)
  7. A smock is optional – your child could just wear old clothes or nothing at all

Gather your supplies and get them ready before your preschooler knows what’s going down. He’ll start getting into the water and shaving cream before you’re ready! Fill one big bowl with your Shopkins then cover them with shaving cream. Fill your second bowl with a little bit of water. Not so much that it will easily spill or splash but enough to cover a Shopkin.

Once you have taken the necessary precautions — covering your floor and/or child — tell your preschooler to find the Shopkins in the shaving cream. When he finds one, have him keep count then drop it in the water bowl.

This Shopkins activity is great for learning counting and numbers and for fine motor skills. Your preschooler will also get to explore different textures. Have him describe what the different materials feel like (wet, cold, hard, soft, etc.)




To see this Shopkins activity in action, check out the video below and be sure to subscribe to the ToyPatrol channel if you’d like to see more Shopkins videos as they’re released.

Do you have ideas for other Shopkins activities? Tell us in the comments and we just might share it with our viewers!

What can you do with Shopkins? Watch this video for a fun activity!