Playdough faces

Because playdough effectively bends to a child's will, it is a very good activity for giving them confidence in their own creativity and ideas: anything is possible with playdough! This particular activity can be a good tool for teaching your child about feelings and moods.

What you need:

• A large lump of playdough

Number of players:
1+

Activity:

Using half the playdough, make a flat round face shape with the playdough.

Encourage your child to fill in the face by modelling smaller bits of playdough for eyes, mouth, ears etc. Ask your child questions as she works: 'Is this a sad face or a happy face?'  'Why is the face happy/sad?'  Not only will you learn a lot about your child's inner world but you will build her self-esteem by showing great interest in what she is feeling and thinking.

Notes:

• Using different coloured lumps of playdough will make this activity more colourful and interesting.
• For very young children, this is a great way to teach them the names of different parts of the face: point to your eyes and say, 'eyes' then help her model some dough eyes for her playdough face.
• For really creative children you can suggest making more imaginative 'monster' faces with no rules. Two noses?  No problem.  Four eyes? The more the better! You might ask your child to explain why the monster needs two noses.  Children often have a very strong sense of inner logic to explain things that seem highly improbable to adults!