Crayon play dough is one of our favorite homemade play dough recipes! Here, we have all of our versions of crayon play dough recipes in one place! We know the benefits of play dough as a therapy tool, but when it comes to play dough made with crayons, there are even more!
Broken crayons were taking over my house.
A pencil case of broken pieces, a drawer full of crayon wrappers, pencil pouches with snapped colored pencils among wrapper-less crayons. Our house could have been a candle-making factory with all of the colorful crayon bits that were everywhere.
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Our day started out like any other: we had a fun book to read, about a boy with a purple crayon, and a mission to create a fun activity based on the classic children’s book. I rifled through our craft shelves, looking for inspiration. A broken crayon bounced on the floor. These crayons are multiplying faster than the dust bunnies in our house!
Then it hit me: Crayons. Play Dough. And a fun activity based on a favorite book was born.
We made crayon play dough. And couldn’t stop. We made crayon play dough in every color of the rainbow. We made play dough with every color in the crayon box. And we added fun things, too.
Crayon Play Dough became an instant hit in our house! And you all loved it too. We shared it on Facebook and Instagram and you emailed me about your concoctions. So, I knew we needed to have all of our crayon play dough ideas in one place. So here you are:
How to make play dough with broken crayons:
Each of the crayon play dough recipes below have one main ingredient…crayons! With a few additions, these play dough recipes are some very sensory-based play strategies to develop finger and hand strength in kids.
To make play dough with broken crayons, you’ll want to start with our basic crayon play dough recipe: How to Make Crayon Play Dough is the basic recipe for using crayons in play dough.
Harold and the Purple Crayon Play Dough was the inspiration for this idea… and started all of the crayon play dough mania!
All the Red Crayons in the Box Play Dough used all the shades of red in the crayon box.
Crayon Floam Dough is a super cool sensory dough recipe idea. This is one you NEED to try!
Gold, Silver, and Bronze Metallic Crayon Play Dough Perfect for Olympics fun with kids, this metallic play dough is sparkly for your gold, silver, and bronze exploration!
Crayon Salt Dough Combining salt dough with our play dough recipe, this dough is a fun way to change things up a bit.
Patriotic Crayon Salt Dough Why not make the salt dough patriotic? We made fun star garlands with this dough.
And not a crayon play dough, but a sensory art activity based on the children’s book, The Day the Crayons Quit: Crayon Shaving Art
Don’t want to use your crayons to make play dough? No problem! Broken crayons still color! Here are the many benefits of coloring with crayons. Because as an Occupational Therapist, I love the fine motor good that coloring with crayons brings!