Modeling various crafts from plasticine is an incredibly useful activity for growing children, allowing them to develop not only fine motor skills, but also many other skills and abilities that are important for the normal development of a child, including spatial, abstract and critical thinking. You can start modeling classes as early as two years of age, and in order not to worry about the quality of the plasticine purchased in a children's store and its effect on the child's health, you can make modeling clay yourself. For this, the most common flour found in every home and other inexpensive and accessible ingredients are suitable.

There is a large amount of making children's plasticine with your own hands. It can be edible or inedible, and have a wide variety of shades. It can be prepared cold and by heat treatment with the component. But the most important thing is that such plasticine will be absolutely safe for the child, even if he swallows it. So, how to make plasticine from flour and other available ingredients?

Homemade plasticine recipes

Plasticine prepared by heating the components:

• 1 glass of water;
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil;
• half a glass of regular table salt;
• 1 tablespoon citric acid;
• food coloring of the desired color;
• 1 cup flour.

The cooking process is as follows. First, water, salt, oil, citric acid and dye are mixed, after which the resulting semi-finished product is brought to a warm state over moderate heat. Then the mixture is removed from the heat and flour is added. All this is mixed until a homogeneous mass. After cooling, homemade plasticine is ready for use.

By the way. Due to the presence of a large amount of citric acid in the composition, such a mass has a sharp taste. Therefore, having tasted it at least once, the baby will forever wean himself from putting plasticine into his mouth.

To make plasticine using the cold method you will need:

• 1 glass of cold water;
• 1 salt machine;
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil;
• food coloring;
• 3 cups flour;
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch.

In a bowl, mix water (can be replaced with vegetable or fruit juice with the desired shade), oil, salt and dye (if water is used). Gradually stir the mixture, adding flour and starch, until it reaches the consistency of dough. The plasticine is ready and can be used to sculpt interesting crafts.

Storing homemade plasticine is very easy. Any resealable plastic container will work for this. If it becomes brittle, it is very easy to give it plastic qualities again with the help of a small amount of water. As for coloring the modeling mass, not only food dyes available in any grocery store are suitable for this, but also natural dyes:

• You can paint plasticine red using beet juice;
• Turmeric or carrot juice will help make orange plasticine;
• spinach juice will turn the modeling mixture green;
• An infusion of hibiscus tea can give the mixture a blue tint.

Updated: April 30, 2019 by: Vitaliy R

Plasticine is an excellent educational material for children's creativity, but all parents, without exception, have at least once thought about how impractical, and even dangerous, it can be for the youngest children. Its toxicity and ability to form a lump in the baby’s throat if he tries to eat the mass suggest that this material is completely unsuitable for those children who have not yet realized that not everything can be put in their mouth. The creators of baby play mixes also thought about this problem, so they decided to use a modern approach to get out of the situation by inventing a special play dough.

How is it different from plasticine?

Modeling dough is often called a type of plasticine, but this is done either out of ignorance or simply for greater ease of classification. Such a mass is radically different from plasticine in composition, and does not resemble it so much even in its method of application. For those parents who do not yet really understand the difference, we will highlight the main differences between the two materials.

Safety

Unlike plasticine, modeling dough is completely safe for children.

The composition of the first mixture, theoretically, could contain anything, including harmful chemicals - so dangerous that in the worst examples, even simple contact with skin can cause allergies.

Even if the manufacturer makes every effort to make its product exclusively from harmless products, the very density and viscosity of the plasticine will turn out to be dangerous for the baby, because such a lump will form in the throat and block the airways.

As for the modeling dough, it is one hundred percent safe, since its name is not a metaphor, but conveys the composition as accurately as possible, except that the modeled version is tinted and reinforced with binders - also safe. It is logical that the dough can even be eaten, but the creators still believe that it is better to eat something else, so they made their product very salty.

Density

The dough is much softer than plasticine and does not require any special physical effort for modeling. Plasticine is often distinguished by its considerable hardness, and, in a sense, this is its advantage, but before work it must be kneaded in the hands for a long time, and for the smallest children such a task may generally be impossible. Even if the baby can do this, but with serious effort, it is possible that such preliminary preparation will discourage him from any desire to engage in actual modeling. The situation is completely different with the dough - it does not need to be prepared in any way, it is molded right away, even with the smallest and weakest hands.

Stickiness

The dough does not mold as well as plasticine. This fact is a definite plus in favor of the latter, if the goal is formulated as sculpting complex crafts that must last a significant amount of time without losing their shape. At the same time, plasticine sticks not only to itself, but also to clothing or furniture, and such contaminants are difficult to remove. Another thing is the dough: even if the child gets dirty, ordinary washing of clothes should give the expected result. It’s true that you can’t fashion a structure out of it that is too complex and durable, but that’s not what it’s intended for – it’s more of a general fine motor skills simulator, designed for rolling balls and “sausages.”

Reusability

Here the advantage is clearly on the side of plasticine - crafts made from it can easily be crushed and try to fashion something else. On the contrary, if the product turns out to be successful, it can be stored for a long time, carefully protecting it from the heat. The dough, unfortunately, does not have such properties - in the fresh air it hardens within a matter of hours (no more than a day), and it does not matter whether the baby managed to make something interesting out of it or not; for this reason, after each use, the mixture must be urgently hidden in sealed jars, in which it is sold. However, even such a precaution will not save the mass, since it is still sometimes taken out, at least for a short time, so that it usually loses its elasticity within a month. In addition, even finished and hardened products made from it are not very strong and can crumble over time; their “repair”, as is the case with plasticine products, is impossible.

In other words, all the characteristics indicate that the dough is the best gift for creativity for a child under 4 years old, because it is made safe to neutralize the child’s curiosity. As for the inability to create something serious and durable out of it, this is not a problem, because at this stage children are not yet capable of creating masterpieces.

Kinds

Although it is difficult for ignorant people to imagine how elementary things like dough intended exclusively for modeling can be classified, manufacturers have carefully thought out a whole range of such products. In particular, mixtures of this type are classified according to composition and density:

• Jelly or silk dough. This variety is the softest of all, since it contains real jelly. Of course, there is relatively little of this ingredient in the bucket, so this substance is no more edible than all other types, but it is optimal for rolling primitive forms at a very early age;

• Elastic dough. Perhaps the most common option is that it is prepared at home by those mothers who believe that there is no need to buy something that they can make themselves. It is already a little thicker, but it is still very easy to mold, and it holds its shape much better than the previous version. An interesting fact: there is only half as much salt as the main ingredient - flour;

• Hard dough. Naturally, it is also plastic, but it already requires some effort to work, due to its higher density (due to an even higher percentage of salt in the composition). Because of its properties, this material is recommended for use by children who have already reached the age of 3 years, but in terms of its ability to hold its shape, it is already vaguely reminiscent of soft types of ordinary plasticine.

Manufacturers understand that their huge competition can come not even from other enterprises, but from mothers themselves, who are able to make an analogue at home, so they strive to make their products as interesting as possible - something that you cannot reproduce with your own hands. To do this, they create special kits with molds and modeling tools, which allows the child not only to roll abstract sausages, but also in one movement to create something like a three-dimensional medal with a complex image or a relatively simple figurine. Such sets have a clear connection to a specific topic that is interesting for modern children. Play sets for girls and boys are different: the former have a predominant theme of princesses and fairies, the latter, of course, are closer to various heroic characters.

Colors

In order to further interest children in the modeling process, manufacturers often produce multi-colored dough. Coloring is performed strictly with natural dyes that are not capable of harming humans, otherwise the whole meaning of the modeling test is lost. However, in some cases you can find ordinary white mixture on the shelves - in this case, the creators count on the parents themselves to color the mixture in the color they see fit, or even in several colors.

At the same time, the available color range of modeling dough is somewhat inferior to that of plasticine. Sometimes such a substance is not even sold in sets; parents must select the desired shades from the available assortment and purchase each jar separately. This approach is due to the fact that colored dough, due to its low density, mixes very easily, and as a result it is difficult to make a two-color figurine from it - it is more likely that the dyes will mix, and the baby will just get a paste of an incomprehensible shade.

What can you mold?

To be honest, softer types of modeling dough are only normally suitable for horizontal creativity, when the result is not a full-fledged three-dimensional figure, but rather its silhouette lying on the table and losing its shape when you try to lift it vertically. To fully sculpt complex shapes, it is better to use hard dough, but even here you should not count too much on the amazing strength and durability of the product. As for soft varieties, it is generally better to buy them right away with molds - then even the smallest and most inept baby will receive at least a primitive toy, which is already better than ordinary balls and sausages.

If you have a hard dough, you can expand your imagination somewhat, but remember that you will still have to give up complex details. On the Internet you can find photographs of real masterpieces created from dough, but they were created not by children of 3-4 years old, but by adults, and even then - not just any, but professionals from the world of art. Of course, parents are not forbidden to help their child in the process of creating a figurine, but the main goal of the test is not to create a masterpiece, but to develop fine motor skills, so the child must do the main work himself, even if the end result is not particularly impressive. To prevent your little one from being deeply disappointed, try to select subjects for sculpting in such a way that their implementation is not a task of enormous complexity - it is best that the finished sculpture is a combination of slightly improved balls and sausages.

As for the most common and popular themes among children, the leaders are probably animals - for example, a puppy or a calf. Theoretically, you can make a little man this way, but in an era when dolls and other toys are as close as possible to your favorite cartoon characters, a child is unlikely to admire the resulting abstraction, which will probably even vaguely resemble a person. You can entrust the entire creative process to the child so that he can learn, but this is a more suitable option only if the child shows remarkable interest in the activity.

If you want a relatively indifferent child to become interested in modeling, you will have to show him that it is capable of producing an attractive result, which means it cannot do without the help of adults. It is best to agree in advance with the little one that he will do what he does best - balls and sausages, and you will assemble a finished toy from them, as well as make more complex parts if the project is still quite complex.

The boy will probably also be interested in the idea of ​​making a boat with his own hands. In principle, due to the absence of almost any details, the result will not be a boat, but something like a boat - such a task can be trusted to be completed independently, since there is nothing complicated in it. At the same time, do not forget that if you can still fully play with molded animals, then the boat is in no way applicable on the water, and for two reasons at once: it is unlikely to have a correctly distributed weight so as not to tip over, and even if water gets in, the modeling dough comes into disrepair.

What to do if the mass has dried out?

Modeling dough that is not tightly sealed in a jar can dry out in just a few hours. However, even with careful storage, after an average of a month it begins to noticeably lose its elasticity, crack when trying to give it a complex shape, and hardened products made from it begin to crumble, including under its own weight. In this regard, many parents are wondering how to restore the functionality of the substance.

The vast majority of varieties of modeling dough do not involve any recovery after drying - only the best samples are exceptions. Organic substances, unlike inorganic ones, usually do not allow a return to their previous state - for example, you can get water back from frozen ice, but you can’t turn a raw egg back into a fried egg, and you can’t turn a dry dough into a wet one.

Some manufacturers have nevertheless provided for this possibility, but only under one condition - if the dough has not yet completely dried out and remains soft inside. If the mixture is ordinary, then the water will wash away the dyes and adhesives from it, resulting in an unintelligible jelly that now does not hold together at all. The best samples contain binders that are not washed out with water, so you can try to restore them. To do this, hold the mass under running water (but do not put it in a bowl of water), and when you see that it has softened, squeeze it thoroughly and roll it over your palm so that it absorbs all the water. At the same time, the loss of a certain part of the dye is guaranteed, and this is not a disaster; it is much worse if after the described procedure the mixture begins to stick to your hands - this means that the product is of low quality and cannot be restored.

But trying to soak a finished hardened figurine in order to further transform it into something else is stupid, even if the best raw materials were used for its manufacture. The old product will be hopelessly damaged, but it will not be possible to make a new one in its place.

Manufacturers

The choice of test largely depends not only on the cost and appearance of the packaging, but also on the proven brand name, because this is the only way to be sure of the safety and durability of the purchased product. In this regard, it is worth highlighting several brands that have become quite famous in our country:

• Play-Doh from the famous company Hasbro. This is, perhaps, the standard - the famous American company, which has produced many toys beloved by children around the world, could not bypass this type of children's products, using in the creation process its proprietary approach to maximally meet the needs of children. The sets of this brand have managed to become a household name thanks to the guaranteed environmental friendliness of the mass composition and very interesting additions in the form of molds that make the game much more exciting. At the same time, due to its imported nature, such a mixture is still not sold everywhere, but because of its cost, it can scare off a significant part of potential buyers. However, the superior quality is worth it;

• Genio Kids. This brand is also a very serious player in the Eastern European market of children's creative products, whose products are produced mainly in Belarus, but are exported to at least Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Moldova! In terms of its performance characteristics, this product is ahead of many competitors, and there is no doubt about the naturalness of its origin, because the neighboring country is famous for the naturalness of its products. In terms of price, Genio Kids will be significantly cheaper than its American competitor, but even if it is inferior to it in quality, it will be only slightly;

• Dough from childhood. Among Russian manufacturers, the most popular are the products of the plant located in Yekaterinburg, which decided to influence consumer demand by reminding people of the times when modeling dough was not purchased in a store, but was made by hand by mother. With this, the manufacturer once again emphasized that it avoids in every possible way the use of any harmful, or even simply synthetic, substances in its products. A characteristic feature of the company is that a significant part of its products are not produced in sets, but in individual jars of dough of different colors, which are sold individually;

• Chinese brands. Today there is no type of product that is not produced in China and not exported from there to dozens of countries around the world, so even something as primitive as play dough can be produced there and sold here. You shouldn’t say a priori that such products are of low quality - often the reviews about them are very positive, but here you should pay attention to one very important point: Chinese manufacturers are very fond of counterfeiting popular brands from other countries, and counterfeiting a competitor’s product from their own country for them it’s not a problem at all. Even if you are sure that this brand has been tested and does not have the slightest complaints on your part, be prepared to carefully study the packaging and find fault with any typos that may be evidence of counterfeiting. At the moment when you are not sure of the authenticity of production by the exact company indicated on the packaging, you can no longer trust the indicated composition.

How to choose for children to create?

First of all, consider who you are buying the dough for and why. For the little ones, it is better to choose more elastic options, because then the baby will not need serious physical effort, but the impossibility of holding the shape is not yet fundamental - such a toddler is unlikely to create a masterpiece. For a child over 3 years old, purchase hard dough - at this stage it will become a transition to real plasticine.

If your child does not yet know how to sculpt, and you set a goal to interest the child, be sure to purchase a full set with the maximum number of molds, tools, instructions and other pleasant bonuses. Children never dwell on something they don't like, so you need to provoke love at first sight.

Finally, don’t be lazy to read the ingredients on the packaging – it’s advisable that there’s nothing suspicious there. There you will also find references to compliance with quality standards - an unscrupulous manufacturer will be embarrassed to post this so as not to be sued. By the way, modeling dough also has an expiration date, so be sure to check this parameter as well.

How to make play dough with your own hands, see the following video:

I have already written several times about how important a baby is. Yes, I think you know this very well even without me. Therefore, today, without further ado, I want to talk about another exciting and very useful activity - about modeling with kids and how you can play if you have a piece of dough on hand. All these games are useful not only for the development of fine motor skills, but also for the development of the child’s imagination, thinking, and perseverance.

Often mothers ask the question: “What is better to choose for activities with the baby: dough or plasticine?” In my opinion, it would be better if you give your child the opportunity to get acquainted with different substances and sensations, and conduct classes with both dough and plasticine. But here for little ones (from 1 year old) it is better to use dough in modeling classes and that's why:

The dough is much softer and more pliable than plasticine, and for babies who still find it difficult to knead plasticine, this is important.

Considering the fact that many kids will want to taste the modeling mass, dough (homemade) is much safer from this point of view, since its main components are flour, salt and water, and plasticine is still a combination of chemical components.

You can make the dough yourself, or you can buy it at the store (for example, Play Doh). But if you even once knead the dough at home, then, for sure, you will no longer want to deal with store-bought dough. Homemade dough is more flexible, softer, more pleasant, and there is also a lot of it! In addition, the process of preparing the dough is quite simple and does not take much time.

So how do you make play dough? I will give two dough recipes that I have tested several times and I really like. The first recipe can be called a classic salt dough recipe. The dough is prepared very quickly and easily; it is often used to create durable crafts; after drying, it can be painted.

Salted play dough - classic recipe

1 cup flour

½ cup salt (preferably “extra”)

½ glass of water

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

Mix all ingredients and knead thoroughly until smooth.

Recipe for very flexible dough

And another recipe for a very, very soft, plastic, homogeneous and, I would even say, ideal dough! :) It is not suitable for drying and painting, but for fun games with dough it is perfect.

1 cup flour

1 glass of water

¼ cup salt

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 tsp citric acid

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, stir, then place over medium heat. After this, we begin to actively stir the dough with a spoon until it forms a ball and stops sticking to your hands. You will need to stir for no more than 3 minutes. After the dough has cooled, you can start playing with it.

Don't neglect such a seemingly insignificant ingredient as citric acid! If you do not add it, then after storing in the refrigerator the dough will begin to stick to your hands.

You can add food coloring to any version of the dough. If you don’t have a dye to tint the dough, you can use beet or carrot juice, turmeric, brilliant green, and gouache. Well, if you divide the dough into several parts and paint them in different colors, it will be even more interesting!

Both doughs can be stored in the refrigerator in a closed container for quite a long time (several weeks).

Games with dough

So, you have the dough, what to do with it next? First of all, of course, you need to introduce the baby to the test. Give him the opportunity to touch and knead him. You can make some kind of bun or bunny to show what the dough is capable of. If the acquaintance went well, you can move on to games.

Remember that the entire lesson should not last longer than 5-10 minutes. Do not try to include all the games in one lesson, watch your baby and always stop before he gets tired of the activity. If your baby is losing interest in a particular game, it may be too easy or too difficult for him. Try to simplify or make the task easier.

1. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin

The baby will most likely be happy to start rolling out the dough, because he has seen his mother do it more than once. If your baby is having trouble using a rolling pin, help him by clasping his hands with yours.

Both a toy and a real kitchen rolling pin are suitable for the game. My daughter likes rolling with a large rolling pin even more.

2. Press various objects into the dough

Next, you can announce that the resulting flatbread is not just a flatbread, but a pizza or a cake that now needs to be decorated. And for this purpose you can use a variety of objects: matches, pasta, beans, counting sticks, small toys, lids, etc. Try to use objects of different shapes and sizes to diversify the child’s tactile sensations.

3. Create simple crafts based on pressing objects into dough

Let me give you a few examples:

• Hedgehog

For the little ones, toothpicks can be replaced with matches or counting sticks.

• little man

Be sure to involve your child in rolling out the torso and head. If your baby is not doing well yet, take his hands in yours and make rotational movements together.

4. Pinch off small pieces of dough and place them in a jar/bowl

This activity is very useful for the development of fine motor skills, as it trains the “pinch” grip. It’s quite simple to play around with the activity: invite your child to feed his favorite bear with candy. The game will most likely appeal to the youngest children - children about one year old. At this age, kids really like to tinker with small objects, fold and rearrange them.

5. Prick the dough with a fork.

Try sticking the same candies that you made for the bear onto a fork. You can tell your child that the bear prefers to eat only with a fork, but refuses to eat otherwise. So in the game we will quietly practice a very useful skill.

6. Cut with a knife

The main thing in this lesson is to teach the child to hold the knife correctly and, importantly, to independently hold the dough with his left hand (if the child is right-handed). A toy plastic knife, a special plastic dough knife, or a butter knife work well for the game. The activity will be interesting for babies from about 1 year 3 months.

7. Leave fingerprints on the dough

We press the toy into the dough, carefully remove it and ale-op, you get a beautiful pattern on the dough! Taisiya was simply delighted with this activity, and could get carried away for a long time, imprinting pasta on the dough.

Good for printing sorter figures, pasta tubes, small toys, construction set parts, fork, comb . Well, if according to the test, a car passes by, leaving marks (preferably with large wheels and treads on them), then the baby will most likely appreciate it.

And, of course, it’s worth mentioning the cookie cutters separately. With their help you can not only make beautiful prints. With older kids, you can try removing the “extra” dough around the molds so that you get “cookies”.

Prints can also be made simply with your finger. After which it will be very interesting to “sow” seeds into the resulting holes. This will be another great exercise for developing a “pincer” grip.

8. Pass the dough through a garlic press

9. Put the dough into a mold - make a pie

You can use either muffin tins or clean tins from the shortbread set for this game. When putting the dough into the mold, we try to compact each piece thoroughly. Most likely, you will have to get the cake out of the mold with your mother’s help, because... this is not an easy task.

10. Hide surprises in the dough and find them

This is our favorite game. I think all children love it when there is a surprise moment in the game. They are ready to open intricate locks, unscrew stubborn lids, just to see what is hidden behind them. Children are happy to find surprises, even if they hid them themselves!

Therefore, in this lesson, first, together with the baby, we hide the toy in the dough, placing it on one half of the cake and covering the other. Older kids can be asked to pinch the edges, as when sculpting a pie. Mom can do this for younger children. Well, then we ask ourselves the question “Where is our hedgehog?” or “Oh, who’s hiding here?” Perhaps during the first games the baby will have to be shown how to “get to” the toy. Most likely, the baby will catch everything very quickly and will subsequently eagerly pick apart the dough himself.

Even such a seemingly simple activity is incredibly useful for children’s fingers.

11. With mom’s help, sculpt sausages, koloboks and simple figures.

That's all for me, I wish you pleasant games together and more happy smiles on your baby's face! I would be very grateful if you share this article with your friends on social networks (there are special buttons for this at the bottom of the article). Well, in order not to miss new articles, subscribe to updates in Instagram,

Hi all!

Dough-plasticine brand Genio kids I bought it at the Korablik store for 150 rubles.

My daughter is 2.2 years old and this is her first play dough.

My daughter sometimes watches a video on the YouTube channel where children play with plasticine from the famous Play Doh brand. But, since it’s too early for us to buy Play Do creativity kits, I decided to start getting acquainted with modeling dough with an inexpensive and simple kit.

The set includes 4 jars with dough of different colors (red, yellow, blue and green).

Manufacturer: "Magic Island", Republic of Belarus.

Ingredients: flour, starch, water, dyes and flavoring.

In addition to this set, the store had other, more expensive themed modeling kits from the Genio kids brand: “Wonderful Dessert”, “Fantasy Bouquet”, “Cooking Pizza”, “Cat”, “Ladybug” and others.

In the future I will buy some of these sets, because in general, we were satisfied with the Genio kids dough-plasticine.

Advantages of dough-plasticine:

- very soft and pleasant, it is a pleasure to sculpt from it. Suitable for very young children, unlike regular plasticine.

- bright colors.

- pleasant unobtrusive apple scent.

- Doesn't stick to your hands at all. It does not stick to surfaces and does not stain the floor; pieces of dough that accidentally fall on the floor will simply harden.

To work with dough, we have a special large board for plasticine, on which we do our work.

Some features of dough-plasticine:

- After playing with dough-plasticine, a small amount of debris remains, because small pieces and grains quickly harden. For this reason, the amount of dough may gradually decrease with each game.

- Every day the dough gradually loses its properties: it becomes less elastic, dries out and no longer returns to its original form. It is already difficult to make a completely homogeneous lump out of it.

That is, you need to be prepared for the fact that this material is not durable and after some time it will need to be replaced with a new one (after about 10 days).

- outdoors, the dough completely hardens in 12 hours, so don’t forget to put it in jars after each game. To better preserve the elasticity of the dough, it should be stored in tightly closed jars, in the form of a single lump. I think it’s even better to additionally wrap it in cling film.

- parts made from dough-plasticine are not connected to each other as tightly as from ordinary plasticine.

My daughter really enjoyed working out with modeling dough, probably even more than with Kinetic sand.

I taught my daughter and on the third day she already knew how to:

Tear off pieces from a large lump and roll them into balls and sausages.

- make flat cakes from a piece of dough by pressing it with your palm.

All these manipulations with the test perfectly develop hand motor skills, and therefore the child’s speech (like any exercises for the fingers).

Modeling generally has a positive effect on a child’s development, developing perseverance, attention and other skills.

It is recommended to start modeling with your child earlier than drawing.

Modeling will prepare the child’s hand for more complex movements - holding a pencil and brush in drawing.

If you have time and desire, you can prepare the dough yourself:

Recipes for salted play dough for children aged 1 to 2 years:
1) You need to take 1 cup of salt and 2 cups of flour, and, gradually stirring, add hot water. The dough is kneaded stiff. The finished dough can be safely stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks, having previously placed it in a bag.

2) You will need 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of fine salt, 1 cup of water colored with food coloring, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. We take food coloring, which is used to color Easter eggs and confectionery (½ or ¼ sachet of the same color for this portion of dough). The dough does not stick to your hands and holds its shape well. The dough can be stored for 3-4 weeks in a tightly sealed bag in the refrigerator.

Happy shopping and creative success!

On the modern market of creative goods you can find a huge number of modeling kits - many types of plasticine (ball, floating, super soft, hardening), special dough, masses of various properties, and so on. But it will be more useful and interesting for the child to prepare the modeling mixture on his own, under the strict guidance of his parents. How to make plasticine at home from scrap materials? There are several ways.

About the benefits of playing with plasticine

Why do some parents dislike plasticine? Obviously, because it gets under children’s nails, sticks to the floor and furniture, sometimes leaving greasy stains. But if we put these small troubles on one side of the scale (they can be avoided if you teach your child to handle plasticine carefully), and on the other side the benefits of modeling, then it will immediately become clear that plasticine is a very useful thing for children, with which they you should be able to handle it from a very early age (from a year or two - this depends on the individual developmental characteristics of the children).

Exercises with plasticine help your child:

• start speaking faster, since there are many nerve endings on the pads of children’s fingers, through stimulation of which the development of the speech apparatus is accelerated;
• develop fine motor skills and learn to control your little fingers more perfectly;
• develop imagination and creative thinking - you need to work hard and use your head to figure out how to make, for example, a heart for mom;
• reduce nervous tension - the process of kneading the plasticine mass acts in the same way as performing anti-stress exercises;
• train perseverance, observation and concentration;
• gain new knowledge - through plasticine you can study colors, shapes, properties (big, small, hard, soft, etc.);
• have fun in active communication with a loved one.

Homemade plasticine recipes

The composition of purchased plasticine does not inspire confidence, as it contains many unknown chemicals that are unlikely to be safe for children. How to replace what the stores offer? The answer is obvious - plasticine, created with your own hands from safe ingredients at home. Moreover, there are a great many recipes for homemade plasticine.

Salt dough (sculptural plasticine)

The most common version of homemade sculptural plasticine is prepared from flour, salt and water:

1. 2 cups of salt should be mixed with 1 cup of flour;
2. knead the dough, gradually adding 1 glass of cold water;
3. If the resulting plasticine sticks unpleasantly to your hands, you can add a little more flour to it.

Second method (heated):

1. mix 1 cup of flour and a quarter cup of salt;
2. Bring half a glass of water to a boil and pour the resulting bulk mixture into it;
3. add any vegetable oil there - 1 tablespoon;
4. cook until a ball forms;
5. Knead the dough thoroughly, divide into parts and add coloring.

Modeling mass

An excellent alternative to dough can be a soft modeling mass made from starch and other ingredients.

Method number 1 (with shaving foam):

1. pour 400 grams of starch into a large container or tray;
2. Gradually add shaving foam in small portions, stirring after each addition (approximately 100-200 grams of foam);
3. To make the mass more elastic, you can add any vegetable oil (about a tablespoon), and for color - food coloring (preferably gel).

Method number 2 (with soda):

1. mix 2 cups (level) of baking soda, 1 cup of starch and 1 and a quarter cup of ice water;
2. divide into parts and add dyes (you can use natural ones - beet juice, carrots, etc.).

Method No. 3 (hardening mass):

1. the mass is created in exactly the same way as the second option (with starch and soda), but you only need to take 1.5 cups of water;
2. then you need to put the mixture on the fire and cook until the contents form a ball;
3. remove from heat and knead thoroughly;
4. store in a closed container or under film, otherwise the mass will quickly harden.

Ball plasticine, which you can also prepare yourself at home, has very good indicators of a positive effect on the all-round development of children.

1. Place expanded polystyrene (foam) granules in a tight bag (they are sold in online stores and some construction companies).
2. Pour 1 bottle of PVA glue into the same bag (you can put dye there, if desired) and shake well.
3. Add a few drops of sodium tetraborate one at a time to the resulting homogeneous mass (this is borax - sold in pharmacies, costs a penny) - the less it is, the denser the mass will be.

To create bouncing plasticine (plastic gum for hands, from which you can make bouncy balls), you need to combine 100 grams of fresh (not more than 3 months from production) PVA glue, half a bottle of borax (sodium tetraborate) and a few drops of dye.

When mixing, use glass containers, as well as gloves and goggles. To add flavor to the chewing gum, add essential oil to the solution.

The sandbox is a favorite children's entertainment, but it is not available in winter. This can be easily fixed by creating sand plasticine yourself ():

1. mix 2 cups of starch (corn or potato) and 1 cup of water in a basin or other large container;
2. add 4 cups of clean (this is important, street sand will not work) fine sand (can be purchased at pet supplies) and mix the mixture thoroughly again;
3. divide into parts and color by adding dyes.

Making homemade plasticine is not only development and entertainment for a child, but also an excellent opportunity for parents to become a little closer to their baby.