Play Through Clay!

Playing with clay (or playdough) provides many benefits for children, here are our top 6 reasons (do you agree?)... but keep reading on as we do get to the fun part, we promise!

1. Develops Fine Motor Skills - Developing finger muscles and having proper finger control is an important first step to learning how to write at school.

2. Emotional regulation - It's great for mindfulness as it calms the mind. It can release excess energy, help to ease tension and improve focus.

3. Encourages creativity - Their creations can be a pizza, a cake, a mountain – the opportunities are endless! Clay/playdough, stretches imaginations and encourages children to think innovatively.

4. Hand-eye coordination - Using different materials, such as rollers and cutters, to interact with the clay/playdough, helps to develop hand-eye coordination

5. Improves social skills - Play in general is a great opportunity to practice social skills. And clay/playdough is a perfect example of this; sharing colours and tools and spending time together chatting about their creations and even working together are great practice. And because there is no right or wrong way to play, it’s excellent for building self-esteem.

6. Literacy and numeracy skills - While working on their creations children form new ideas and concepts. Through this they learn new words as well as words to describe what they’re creating.
   

Now for the fun part! 

Here are FIVE 'how-to' illustrations for you to follow to create some fun pieces with your clay or playdough!

Playdough_Clay Fun

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Let us know how you go; @thewondercompanyuk or email us at hello@thewondercompany.co.uk