Emoji Play Dough Activity
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Even if they don’t have their own phone, kids know exactly what emoji’s are. They have become a social media phenomenon and they even have their own movie deal to boot. We thought it would be a fun idea to combine the love of emojis with sensory play, and we were right – it was a hit! Kids will have a blast playing with this DIY emoji play dough kit. It’s great sensory play for the classroom or home.
Emoji Play Dough Activity
Play dough is a fabulous way to build fine motor strength and encourage those little imaginations without any technology being involved – score! This emoji play dough is pretty simple to make, and kids will love it.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups water, boiling
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups salt
- 2 T. oil, (vegetable, coconut, olive)
- 2 T. cream of tartar
- Yellow food coloring
- *Optional- essential oil to add scent (you will of course want to be considerate with this if you are using it in the classroom)
To create the invitation to play tray you will also need:
- Scissors
- Craft foam
- Googly eyes
- Black marker
Directions:
First you will need to boil 2 cups of water. I just toss mine in the microwave in a large heat safe measuring cup until it starts to bubble. You can also do this in a pan on the stove if you prefer.
If you are making this for school, you will prep at home and then bring it there unless you are lucky enough to have a kitchen or microwave in your room. (I actually do!) 🙂 Alternatively, you can use yellow play dough cans, though this may be more cost effective to make yourself to have larger batches at once.
Once your water is boiling, quickly add all your other ingredients, stirring until it begins to pull away from the sides of your container.
Keep adding yellow food coloring and essential oils until you get your desired color/scent strength.
Let your play dough cool until it is comfortable to touch, then knead it for a few minutes until the texture begins to resemble play dough and everything is well mixed. If your dough is sticky just add a bit more flour and work it in.
Now the emoji magic begins….
To create a play station where kids can put together their own emojis, you can pre-cut craft foam into eyes, mouths, and other emoji accessories, or let them do this step on their own.
I like to use a veggie tray to set out the play dough, foam pieces, and googly eyes. You can also add cutters, rolling pins, and other items to extend the play.
Kids will love adding fun items to their faces!
Make a cool face with sunglasses…
A sad one, an angel, or even a funny tongue!
And perhaps my favorite – the heart eyes!
However they play, they will love the creative, open-ended exploration of it.
When you are done, just seal the play dough in a bag and put it on the tray, then pull it out again the following day for even more emoji fun!
More Play Dough Fun
Love learning with play dough? We do too!
Your kids will love these play dough mats from Playdough to Plato. Work on letters, shapes, numbers, counting – so many learning possibilities!
Get the Play Dough Learning Mats over on Pladough to Plato HERE!
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