How to use play-doh to boost elementary school language

Play- Doh is awesome :) It’s colorful. The texture is soft and soothing. And the possibilities for play are endless.

Interest in Play Doh peaks in early elementary school – which means it is a perfect activity to boost early language skills.

Here are some of the ways to use play-doh, to target some of the most important foundational language skills for my elementary school kids

1. Use Play Doh to teach sequencing

Sequencing is an important prerequisite for telling narratives, which is a foundation for writing and reading.

Play Doh works just as well (or even better!) than sequencing cards. Model sequencing by narrating while you are playing.

For example – “First I take the play Doh out. Then I roll the Play Doh. Last I make a shape with the Play Doh.”

After modeling 3-4 times, with 3 -4 shapes, ask your child to fill in.

“What do we do first? First….” (Pause).

With time, you can even fade even that cuing, so that kids can use the transition words “first”, “then,” and “last” by themselves.

2. Use Play Doh to teach tenses

It’s really important that children learn to easily transition between tenses, and that they understand exactly when each tense is used. A child with strong language can distinguish between past, present, and future.

With Play Doh, you can teach tenses by branching off sequencing.

You can choose three shapes. After the child finishes one shape, you can ask ask “what did we just do?” (past tense)

You can model – “First, we took the Play Doh. Then I rolled it. Last I made a shape.”

Then you can ask, “what are we doing now?” (present tense)

Then go back to the original – “First I take the play Doh out. Then I roll the Play Doh. Last I make a shape with the Play Doh.”

After the second shape is done, you can ask “what are we going to do?” (future tense)

You can model – “First, we will take the Play Doh. Then we will roll it. Last we will make a shape.”

Just like with sequencing, you can model 3-4 times. Then you can cue the sequencing terms “First then and last.” Last, you can take away even the sequencing term cues.

3. Use play doh to teach pronouns

You can have "play-doh dates" with other children, and use the small group to model problems.

You can model- “Who is this for? Is this for HIM? Or is this for HER? Is it for BOTH OF THEM? Or is it for me?”

Again, after some modeling, you can fade the cue. “Who is this for?” (PAUSE)

If a child is stuck, you can phonemic cue – for example – “It’s for hi…” (PAUSE). The child will fill in “him.”

4. Use Play Doh to teach adjectives

Adjectives aren’t as rudimentary as nouns or verbs. But they are pretty darn important, especially as a child ages. The ability to describe helps express oneself more quickly in speech and in writing. It also helps with comprehension with a variety of reading targets.

You can start off by modeling and fading the model for words that describe Play Doh. “Squishy, Soft, Fun, Interesting, Colorful, Flexible…” etc. You can talk while playing with the Play Doh.

Then you can describe whatever the child is making. “Oh a butterfly? That’s pretty and it’s small.”

If a child is having trouble generating adjectives by themselves even after modeling, you can use choices. “Is it heavy? Or is it light?” Then have the child pick one.

5. Use Play Doh to boost receptive language

Without strong receptive language, a child can have difficulty following curriculum or directions in the classroom.

Fortunately, you can increase a child’s ease with following directions. You can gradually increase the amount of information contained in a command – and thus train your child to filter out and retain the important information.

This is where the Play Doh comes in. You can use Play Doh to play Simon Says, or a similar direction game.

Start with 1 step directions. “Grab the blue play doh.”

Then make it 2 steps. “Grab the blue play doh and put it on the green mat.”

Then make it 3 steps. “Grab the blue play doh, make a star, and put it on the green mat.”

You can repeat directions as many times as you want, and fade the number of repeats with time.

6. Use Play Doh to teach answering Wh questions

Wh questions are important foundations for answering reading comprehension questions. They are also important language milestones.

You don’t need books or cards to teach wh questions.

For example, with play-doh, you can take turns asking –

A. What are you making

B. Where are you putting it

C. When are we playing with the green one

D. Who gets the brown one?

E. Why do you like the butterfly?

Once a child is comfortable answering wh questions, you can get them to ask you the questions. After all, asking grammatically correct wh questions is an important milestone – and just as important as answering the same times of questions.

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There you have it.

Feel free to pick up some Play Doh on your next Target run. You and your kids will be thrilled with the purchase.

Plus, learning will happen with minimal effort.

Happy Playing!

Disclaimer : Smarter Speech is a pediatric speech therapy / speech-language pathology practice for toddlers and children providing in-home and teletherapy services in and around Mountain View, CA and Los Gatos, CA. Smarter Speech Blog aims to provide free speech and language tips for parents educators and therapists. However, this post is not providing speech-language pathology services. This is general information, not speech -language pathology or speech therapy. This article does not assume or create a client – SLP relationship. The author is not liable for any losses or damages due to actions or failure to act based on the content in this article. If you need assistance with a child’s speech or language needs, please contact a speech-language pathologist in your area.