Many years ago (Aug 26, 2014 to be exact!) we made this Harold and the Purple Crayon Play Dough activity because it was one of our FAVORITE books. My kids loved that book and the fact that there is now a movie…we are going to see this movie even though my kids are now teenagers! I loved this play dough activity because first, we made the homemade play dough recipe ourselves (it’s a version of our original crayon play dough recipe) and then, my kids worked those fine motor skills and visual motor skills to build creations, just like in the book, Harold and the Purple Crayon! Check it out…
We used homemade purple play dough and then worked those fine motor skills to make creations! Play dough exercises improve hand strength and finger dexterity. The soft and squishy dough provides a tactile sensory challenge with proprioceptive sensory feedback. The bonus is the strengthening of the arches of the hands and precision of grasp. These are just some of the benefits of play dough!
Harold and the Purple Crayon Play Dough
Working with play dough builds fine motor skills. You can really target pinch strength and grip strength by rolling play dough snakes, and that’s what this play dough activity is all about. In the book, the crayon is used to create wild creations…we did the same thing with playdough!
This installment of the Preschool Book Club was one of our favorite activities, by far. We made a batch of our play dough recipe, but added a twist. We wanted to incorporate not only the purple color of Harold and the Purple Crayon, but the crayon, too! This Crayon Play Dough uses real crayons in the play dough recipe and makes a silky smooth dough…perfect for creating, playing, manipulating, and more!
Crayon Play Dough Recipe
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Harold and the Purple Crayon Activity
The book Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson is such a FUN book. It’s great for preschoolers, but grabs the attention of toddlers and school-aged kids, too. When we read this book, all of my kids were frozen as they took in the bold pictures and the imagination of Harold.
We had a blast re-creating parts of the book with play dough lines. Of course, we needed purple, CRAYON play dough to go along with the book!
We love making our own play dough. To make crayon play dough, you’ll need just a few adjustments.
1. First, chop up 2 and a half crayons. I’m not sure that these exact amounts matter. There are so many different brands of crayons with different wax make-ups. We used a few different types mixed together and the results were a silky smooth play dough.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (3 cups flour, 1 1/2 cup salt, 2 Tbsp. cream of tartar)
3. Next, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan.
4. Add the chopped crayons.
5. Stir until the crayons are completely melted. Slowly stir in 2 cups of water while stirring. Certain types of crayons will either make a clumpy purply goopy looking liquid. Other types will make a smooth liquid once the water is added. Either way is fine. Just keep stirring.
6. Slowly, stir in the dry ingredients. The dough will pull together in a ball over the heat.
7. Once the dough pulls together, dump it out onto a cutting board or counter. Let the dough cool until you can tolerate kneading.
8. Knead the dough for a few minutes until smooth. (Note~ The waxy texture of this dough will create a spa-like experience while kneading. This mama mixed up a few more batches of crayon dough and loved the mini-spa of kneading!)
Once cooled, you are ready to play.
Crayon play dough is so smooth and silky to play with! The color was very bold and bright. Just like the purple crayon in the book!
We read Harold and the Purple Crayon a bunch of times before returning to the library. Before it went back, we used our purple crayon play dough to make purple lines and “draw” them into shapes and pictures, just like Harold did in the book.
Harold’s house “drawn” with our purple play dough.
Little Guy made a boat, a Harold, and a snowman.
This was such a fun way to explore a great book.
More Harold and the Purple Crayon Activities
Looking for more activities for the book, Harold and the Purple Crayon? Stop by and see what the other Preschool Book Club bloggers have done:
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