When you think about winter, which scents come to your mind? For me, scents associated with winter are orange and cinnamon! So, today we made orange and cinnamon scented homemade playdough for pretend play in kid’s kitchen!
Both of my kids enjoyed playing with orange and cinammon scented playdough – they kept sniffing the dough and their hands. This was, once again, first experience they had with scented playdough and I’m very happy they enjoyed it!
Do you play with scented playdough with your kids? Which scents are their favorites?
How to Make Orange and Cinnamon Scented Playdough?
Last time we tried to make a cooked homemade playdough when we made a flower garden for Disney princess. This time we decided to try no cooking recipe for playdough.
How to Make Scented Playdough
Ingredients we used to make orange and cinnamon scented playdough:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup salt
- 2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup of water
- orange food coloring (find here: United States | Canada | United Kingdom)
- few tbs of ground cinnamon (find here: United States | Canada | United Kingdom)
NOTE: depending on a playdough quantity you want to create, you can either split ingredients from the list (no.1-5) in half to make 2 different types of scented playdough or you can double first 5 ingredients and make a large batch of both orange and cinnamon scented playdough.
For orange scented playdough we used orange food color and orange extract. For cinnamon scented playdough we only used ground cinnamon.
- We started by mixing flour and salt, adding tartar sauce and oil.
- Water should be mixed with food color and scent (or powder in second dough) before adding to flour mixture.
- Stir all well until you can’t stir no more. Move to hand kneeing until you get the texture that feels right.
How to Use Scented Playdough for Pretend Play?
Of course, first thing my daughter did with playdough was to make holes with her finger. Not sure why, but she simply loves doing it. I have left her explore it for some time because it turns out that these 2 doughs have very different texture – cinnamon play dough was much more coarse on the touch than orange dough.
For next part you will need:
- kids’ rolling pin (find here: United States | Canada | United Kingdom)
- cookie cutters (find here: United States | Canada | United Kingdom)
After some time she used rolling pin to flatten playdough and then she began cutting out cookie shapes with cookie cutter I prepared in advance and she had fun getting dough out of the cutter and creating little balls for decoration.
Working with cookie cutters and playdough is an awesome workout for little fingers, it helps with hand strengtening and hand-eye coordination.
Cutting with cookie cutters also requires precision and concentration. Getting clean shapes is not simple task for little fingers!
Playtime continued for some time and she brought other cutting tools from her kitchen. She enjoyed making different cookies and using knife to cut playdough.
When she was done with play, we stored the playdough in an airtight container and left it in a fridge as it should be ok for play for next several months.
Learning Opportunities with Homemade Scented Playdough
- sensory – exploring through smell and touch
- fine motor skills – hand strengtening
- hand-eye coordination
- imagination and creativity (though pretend play)
- language – talk about texture, scent, their actions and different vocabulary revolving around cooking
Read more about How Sensory Play Benefits Language Development
Extend the Play with Books for Little Cooks
Join the mouse from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie as he bakes his own cookies in his little mouse house. This board book with sturdy pages is perfect for toddlers, who will enjoy the simple introduction to reading. Each page has one or two sentences. Find the book here: United States | Canada | United Kingdom
Mr. Cookie Baker shows all the steps in preparing his famous cookies. Just as he takes them out of the oven, here come the hungry children! With lots to look at, this book is sure to be a yummy treat for the tiniest tots. Bright, primary colors and big cookie shapes make this beloved book about a baker perfect for the very youngest. Find the book here: United States | Canada | United Kingdom
Includes 2 Dino-Cookie Recipes: Cinnama-Saurus Rex (cinnamon oatmeal cookies) and Fossilized Lemon Tracks (lemon sugar cookies)! Perfect for every little dino lover! Scratch and sniff details are nice addition for sensory exploration. Find the book here: United States | Canada | United Kingdom
What to Play Next with Your Child?
If you are interested to learn more about sensory play, we recommend downloading our free book about sensory play basics! We collected over 30 play ideas with playdough you can try with your toddlers and preschoolers!
As always, enjoy and have fun playing!
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