23 Around the House Play Doh Tools

Take play doh to a new level of fun by offering some of these play doh tools! Most of these items are inexpensive and you can find them around the house.

23 Around the House Play Doh Tools

Play doh is a great summer time boredom buster or rainy day activity. It’s fun to play with and it is a great educational tool for kids without them even knowing it.

You can buy play doh from the store or check out our Homemade Play Doh recipe to make it yourself. We also have an Edible Playdough recipe that tastes amazing and it’s fun to play with.

I love to offer a few tools for my kids to use while playing with their play doh. The tools can add to the sensory aspect of the play or they can help the children with their creativity. Mostly, they add another level of fun.

Reasons I Love Play Doh!

Playing with play doh is so much more than just a messy activity. Here are the reasons I love for my kids to play with play doh:

• Develops small muscle control
• Hand-eye coordination
• Strengthens the muscles in your child’s fingers, hands and wrists
• Imagination
• Creativity
• Problem solving
• Self-expression
• Communication

This coordination and strength is important for helping kids learn how to write and use scissors. Play dough is amazing stuff!

Play doh Tools You Already Have In Your House

There are many products you can buy, and they are great, but you probably already have a lot of play dough tools at home. Here is a list of our very favorites:

Flatware

I prefer plastic flatware, especially if they are using knives, but whatever you have in your drawers at home works great.

Forks are great for poking, spoons can be a great mold or stamp, and knives are great for carving.

Pipe Cleaners as play doh tools

These fuzzy bendable sticks can be anything your kids can think of, a smile on a face, crazy hair, or flower stems (to name a few).

Popsicle Sticks

I’ve seen my kids combine play dough and sticks to make some pretty impressive houses and buildings.

Garlic Press is a Favorite Play doh tool!

This is by far my kids’ favorite play dough tool. If your kids are looking to make some hair for a new creature a garlic press is perfect.

Potato Masher

There is something so satisfying about smashing a potato masher into the play dough and watching the dough smoosh out the top. Its a fun stamp with great texture.

Stamps

Any stamps you have at home can be used in play dough. We usually don’t use ink, but it would be fun to experiment with stamps and ink on the play dough.

Whisk

Whisks are another fun stamp that will create great texture.

Googly Eyes as play doh tools

Make a play doh monster or friend with these googly eyes! Kids absolutely love these things!

Plastic Animals

Plastic animals can add conversation and imagination, but they are also fun for stamping.

Cookie Cutters

Of course! I think cookie cutters are the first thing most people think of when they think of play doh tools. These are great for hand-eye coordination and for learning shapes.

Jar lids

Jar lids are great if you don’t happen to have any cookie cutters.

Wooden Skewers as play doh tools

I like wooden skewers a lot better than toothpicks because my kids always want to stick toothpicks in their mouths and it freaks me out!

Wooden skewers are longer so they aren’t the choking hazard that toothpicks are. These are a great tool for writing in the play doh, which is great handwriting practice!

Rocks

I added these because they can be found anywhere and cost absolutely nothing. My boys love using rocks!

Buttons

Buttons add texture to the play dough and can be used for many different things. It’s fun to watch and see what your child comes up with!

Safety Scissors

Cutting play dough is great scissor practice! Here are some safety scissors that are great for little learners.

Straws

Straws are fun play doh tools for making hair on pretend monsters or they can be used as a fun stamp that’s just a little different than skewers.

Markers as a play doh tool?

You don’t normally think about writing on play doh, but it is a lot of fun. If you make your own play dough skip the part where you color it with food coloring so you start with white play dough and then let your kids draw on it and experiment with colors.

Wooden Blocks

Kids wooden blocks have grooves and texture to add dimension to play dough.

Milk lids

You can use milk lids as a cookie cutter or wheels for a play dough car.

Silicon Cupcake Liners

Silicon cupcake lines are a great play doh tool for making cupcakes, holding beads or googly eyes. My kids love to make play dough food and these silicon liners are great bowls or holders for food.

Spaghetti noodles

Seems like a weird one, but if you don’t have skewers spaghetti will do the same thing.

One of my favorite toddler boredom buster/small muscle development is to stick spaghetti noodles into a blob of play dough and then add beads to the spaghetti. Believe me, toddlers think this is pretty cool.

Beads

Beads have many uses. They are fun to press into the play dough and they can be used for small details like eyes, spots on an animal or sprinkles on a play dough cupcake.

These are just a few play dough tools you may already have sitting around. Look around your house and I’m sure you can come up with even more.

For more play dough fun check out these free printable play dough mats:

Here are some other fun Activities for Kids

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