Gingerbread Play Dough: Seasonal Sensory Play Activity

Did you see all of our Gingerbread Man Activities yet? We are adding our Gingerbread Play Dough for sensory play to our list today!

What You'll Find On This Page

Gingerbread Play Dough For Sensory Play:

Throughout the year, we love to make seasonal play dough recipes and this one is our favorite! Your kids are sure to love the sweet scent of gingerbread and the smooth texture of the play dough as they squish it between their fingers too.

What Are The Benefits Of Playing With Play Dough?

There are so many benefits to playing with play dough! From the feel to the smell of it, your kids will use their different senses as they play, explore, and experiment.

By squeezing, rolling, and squishing the dough, your children will develop their fine motor skills and strengthen their hand muscles too. The development of these will help them learn to write and improve other pre-writing skills.

Getting Ready To Make Gingerbread Play Dough:

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure here.

What’s Needed:

1 Cup of Salt
2 Cups of Water
4 Tablespoons of Oil
2 Tablespoons of Cream of Tartar
1 Tablespoon of Ground Ginger
2 Tablespoons of Cinnamon
2 Cups of Flour

What Else Is Needed:

Medium Saucepan
Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons
Mixing Spoon
Waxed, Freezer, or Parchment Paper
Airtight Container

How To Make Gingerbread Play Dough:

To begin making this sensory recipe, combine the salt, water, oil, cream of tartar, ginger, and cinnamon in a medium saucepan. Then, cook the mixture over medium heat until it begins to boil.

Next, add the flour and lower the heat. Then, stir vigorously until the dough pulls away from the sides of the saucepan and begins to form a ball. There might appear to be small lumps of flour not blending in but these will blend during kneading.

After the mixture forms a ball, remove it from the heat and put the play dough onto a piece of parchment paper or wax paper. Then, briefly allow to cool.

Then, knead the play dough well. This will blend in the small lumps of flour.

You can store the play dough in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Just let it warm to room temperature before playing with it.

How To Use Gingerbread Play Dough:

There are so many different ways to use this play dough recipe! Here are just a few ideas for your kids:

Your kids can practice forming letters using this recipe and alphabet play dough mats.
Using a pencil or small dowel, your kids can practice writing letters in the play dough.
You can give your children a sound or show them a picture and have them write the letter for that sound in the play dough.
If your kids know all of the letters, they can practice writing simple words such as CVC words or sight words.

This Gingerbread Play Dough recipe is an seasonal sensory play activity that can be used as a hands-on tool to help your kids with letter recognition, fine motor development, pre-writing skills, and more.

Pin It For Later:

Do you want to save this homemade play dough recipe for kids for later? Pin this to your sensory activities board on Pinterest and it’ll be here for when you’re ready!