If you are searching for a fun Halloween Sensory Activity that will keep your kids entertained long enough to enjoy your hot cup of coffee, this Melting Halloween Play Dough is it!
Deanna of Play Dough & Popsicles is taking the name of her blog to a whole new level with this crazy cool Halloween activity your children are going love.
Halloween Sensory Activity: Melting Halloween Play Dough
Anything that fizzes, oozes, feels slimy, or melts is a no brainier win in our house.
Play dough is also a win. Put the two together and my daughter was entertained for literally an hour. It was amazing for both of us!
My Daughter’s Reaction
She loved this Halloween sensory activity. She also had no expectations of what it was supposed to be. I thought it would feel like the other homemade play dough that we make. It wasn’t though. It was moldable and pliable, but it wasn’t as soft and stretchy as our homemade play dough.
It didn’t matter. My 3 year old was obsessed with this whole project.
She helped me measure the ingredients and mix them together. She played with the dough for 15-20 minutes before taking it to the melting phase.
When I handed her the bowl of vinegar and eye dropper she was ecstatic. “Is it going to make lots of bubbles mommy?” In her 3 year old mind that is completely fascinating. Well, it was fascinating to me too!
This sensory experiment was colorful, multi-stepped and entertaining. She didn’t even know that she was learning about cause and effect, measurements and exploring her senses; she just thought she was having fun. And she was!
How to Make Melting Halloween Play Dough
To make this slimy melting play dough start about 4 tablespoons of washable kid paint and a little less than 1 tablespoon of water. Mix together. Add in equal parts of cornstarch and baking soda. I ended up using about ¼ cup of each.
Mix together until dough forms. It will go through a hard-to-mix-yet-slimy phase (because of the mixture of cornstarch and water) but it will become more like play dough than slime. Just keep mixing.
Because Halloween is right around the corner we chose orange (for pumpkins) and green (for monsters). She didn’t let me get too creative with the designs or figures we made with the dough. She just wanted to play. I don’t always, but I like to let her lead our projects once in a while. Today was that kind of day.
I cut out a jack-o-lantern face from black construction paper. For the monster she just wanted to add beads. Have at it girlfriend, whatever you want to do!
When it was time to involve the vinegar, it didn’t take much at all. The fizzing started with the first couple drops. As more vinegar was added to each blob, it began to start crumbling apart and basically dissolving. There was a pool of orange (or green) liquid on the plate, but the blobs slowly started melting away.
It was incredible to watch her face as the pumpkin and monster slowly started oozing away into nothingness. She played with this until it was literally a plate full of colored, gritty vinegar.
Other Melting Play Dough Ideas Halloween Style:
- Black: witches hat, bat, black cat
- Green: Frankenstein
- White: mummy, ghost
- Orange: leaves
- Yellow: full moon
- Random Colors: candy
I hope you all enjoy trying out this Melting Halloween Play Dough. I would love to hear how it works for you.
This post is part of the Fall Sensory Play series, hosted by The Jenny Evolution in partnership withThe Sensory Spectrum. Go to the Fall Sensory Series to get the latest sensory fun for your kiddos!
About Deanna: Deanna writes for Play Dough & Popsicles, a parenting and lifestyle blog that features kids activities and crafts. She has an almost 4 year old daughter whom she is blessed to be able to stay home with every day. You can read more of her awesome activities on her blog.
This would be an awesome one for making a snowman in the winter, too!
Oooo. That would be a great idea!
The snowman is a GREAT idea!!! 🙂