Learning Verbs with Play-Doh!

Written By: Kaitlin Bednarz M.S., CCC-SLP

Play-Doh is the way to go! At Jump Start Pediatric Therapy Center, there is a 99.9% chance that there is Play-Doh somewhere in your child’s therapy room! There are so many ways to use Play-Doh to target speech and language goals and today we’re going to focus on verbs!

The next time your child pulls out Play-Doh, you can practice these verbs:

• Roll

  • Roll the Play-Doh into ball or other shapes

  • Roll the Play-Doh across the table to each other

  • Use a rolling pin to roll the Play-Doh into a flat shape

• Push

  • Push the Play-Doh down onto the table

  • Push the shape cutters into the Play-Doh

• Smash

  • After making balls, smash the Play-Doh into flat pieces

• Pull and Stretch

  • Pull the Play-Doh to break into smaller pieces

  • Stretch Play-Doh to make bigger before using shape cutters

• Cut

  • Using tools, such as a safe play knife, cut the Play-Doh into different shapes and designs

• Shake

  • After putting the shape cutters into the Play-Doh, practicing shaking the cutter to help separate the outside Play-Doh

• Throw/Catch

  • Throw and catch Play-Doh balls back and forth

• Open/Close

  • Target to request for opening/closing the Play-Doh container

  • You can target this more than once by only taking a little bit of Play-Doh out at a time

Let us know in the comments what your child’s favorite Play-Doh activity is!