Silly Monster Play Dough Activity

Play dough is so much fun for kids, and it’s great for developing hand strength and fine motor coordination. We love adding things to play dough like googly eyes, buttons, straws, etc. There are so many fun themed play dough activities you can do to extend the fun!

Here’s a fun silly monsters play dough activity that will be fun for a wide range of ages. Don’t tell, but my 9 year old enjoyed this! I really think that people give up on play dough far too early… it’s not just for preschoolers! Elementary kids enjoy it too. 🙂

For this monster play dough activity, I set up a tray with four colors of play dough and some fun accessories. I used googly eyes, pipe cleaner segments, straws, beads, and plastic teeth. The teeth were a BIG hit! Those came from the Halloween section at Walmart.

How to Make Homemade Play Dough

We often use play dough from a can, but homemade is so much nicer. It only takes a few minutes to make, and is cheaper for a larger quantity of play dough.

Here’s my go-to recipe:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1 Tablespoon cream of tartar

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

1 cup water

Mix the dry ingredients. Then stir in the oil and water. Pour the mixture into a non-stick frying pan and cook, stirring constantly, until the play dough forms a nice consistency and can be shaped into a ball.

NOTE: The amount of play dough pictured is a double batch.

I used this package of food coloring from Amazon. I really love the colors! It’s hard to find liquid food coloring anymore. Gel food coloring works fine for play dough, but it doesn’t work so well for science experiments that involve liquids.

Once your play dough is all ready, it’s time to make some crazy monsters!

Look, it’s Mike Wazowski! Ha!

This one might be my favorite, although it’s hard to choose!

The plastic teeth tend to want to expand and make the mouth open wide. If you don’t prefer this look, use scissors to cut the connections between the top teeth and bottom teeth. With two separate pieces, you can make a more closed mouth.

Have fun making monsters! Need more play dough ideas?

We have tons of fun play dough activities!

Build a Play Dough Marble Run – this is SO fun.

These Play Dough Bugs are another one of our favorites.