Here's an Easy Preschool Playdough Idea that Strengthens Fine Motor Skills

Last Updated on July 22, 2024 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: Looking for an easy way to strengthen your children’s fine motor skills? Add some citrus squeezers to this fun preschool playdough idea!

We just finished our first week of school, and can I shout hooray for playdough? Seriously, this stuff is like magic for busy toddlers and preschoolers, children who are having separation anxiety, and for those that simply love the feeling of it.

So we put together a fine motor squeezing activity using playdough.

It was a hit. Every chair was taken during centers time.

And it’s super, super easy to set up. Who doesn’t like that? Especially the first week of school?

Easy Preschool Playdough Idea Using Squeezing Tools

What you will need:

Commercial Play Dough or homemade playdough
Citrus squeezer
Garlic press (if you want an additional squeezing tool)

fine motor strengthening with play dough

We placed balls of playdough at each spot along with the citrus squeezers and a garlic press.

After playing with the playdough for awhile, the children were curious what would happen if they placed some of the dough inside.

We modeled how to place some of the dough inside the squeezer and then use our hands to squeeze the handles together.

When the dough pressed through the small holes, there were big smiles.

Then, of course, they wanted to do it over and over again.

We love these types of activities because the children are figuring out where to put the dough, how to squeeze the dough, and discovering what happens afterwards.

Toddlers will probably need some help at first, but once they get the hang of it, this becomes an independent activity. In fact, you could store the playdough in an airtight container along with a basket of squeezing tools for those times when they are ready for a quiet activity.