I love homemade playdough and try to make sure we always have some on hand. One of the great things about playdough is that it is so simple to change the experience by changing the accessories. Playdough Sensory and Color and Animal Print Playdough are two great examples.
Winter is a great time to have a little extra fun with playdough and playdough accessories. Anyone want to build a snowman?
Easy Peppermint Playdough
What you need: Playdough (here’s our favorite Playdough recipe), peppermint extract
Tip #1 – The recipe that I followed asks for the peppermint extract to be added after the playdough is made. I added it while the playdough was cooking and liked that better. (I used about 2 teaspoons.)
Tip #2 – For those of you who would rather not make your own play dough, store bought can be transformed into a sensory wonderland as well! (I had to add quite a bit more of peppermint extract to cover the store bought smell, but it did work!)
Christmas Playdough Accessories
Getting creative with playdough accessories is fun! For this project I wanted to include everything the kids would need to build snowmen as well as some extra Christmas goodies.
Accessory ideas
- Sticks.
- Felt cut into scarves.
- Buttons.
- Acorn tops.
- Pebbles.
- Plastic candy canes. (The little ones pictured above were part of a candy cane chain. I just cut them apart. We used the beads that connected them too.)
- Plastic snowflakes.
- Glitter. (Glitter is not my favorite but I can handle it when it’s tucked neatly into playdough. Just let your little one sprinkle it straight onto the playdough and kneed it in. All the sparkle, none of the glitter mess.)
Do you have any Christmas playdough accessory ideas to add?
This post originally appeared December 11, 2011 as a part of Creative Christmas Countdown.
A lovely advent activity – and top marks for sticking with the theme and drinking *peppermint* tea!
Thank you Cathy. Hee hee… It’s my new favorite drink!
Great post! I love all the holiday themed items you set out to play with! I want to play with all that stuff too! 🙂
~Aleacia
Come on over!!! 😉
I love it. This is a good family activity. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for commenting. I agree, it would make a really fun family activity.
Loved YOUR activity!! Recognized a few of the snowman decorations too! Great job on your blog.
Thank you Chris!!!
This looks like a ton of fun. I’ve got to get to the store to get some peppermint extract and some of those cute candy canes.
Don’t forget the peppermint tea. 😉
My son will love this! Thanks for sharing, Jill!
Let me know how he likes it!
This is SO adorable! I’m a huge fan of play dough and we make new batches of it every other week, just to add to the range and variety! I love the idea of making snowmen and candy canes- just perfect!
Thank you Anna! We had a blast.
I love this post! I ran a similar post the other day and didn’t even realize it- although, I’ve never cooked my own play dough before! Beautiful pics!
Try the cooked play dough… the texture is awesome. Thank you for the comment!
Looks like it smells so yummy! Great post 🙂
Thank you Chrissy!
My daughters would love playdough with peppermint extract… particularly if they get to eat candy canes at the same time. Thanks for the idea.
Ohhh… good idea to let them eat real candy canes along with the activity! Thank you! 😉
What fun! I think everyone should have 15 minutes a day of mandatory play dough time — grown ups too!! 🙂
I should bust it out when I need a “Mommy time out”! 😉
We did this activity today and liked it even better than the gingerbread man hunt (also a hit). My three-year-old and his 2-1/2-yo friend had a blast, especially with the bowls of twigs and buttons and with cookie cutters. The cooked play dough recipe was easy to follow and felt great to work with. I don’t think I’ll go back to store-bought … too many extracts to try. (Though next time I need to remember to check against evaporation before starting the recipe. Turns out my full bottle of peppermint extract had, over time, dwindled to a half-teaspoon.) Glitter in play dough was a new idea for us, too. I’m not sure the kids noticed it much, but I loved it.
I love it!!! So glad you tried out home made. It is really the best way to go. The twigs and buttons are so fun. Did the play dough still have a peppermint scent?
Terrific craft! Please share on our Christmas Crafts Linky Party and get some additional traffic to your site. And feel free to join this Blog Hop on your own site. http://thejennyevolution.com/2012/12/11/christmas-crafts-linky-party-and-blog-hop/