Plasticine- a popular material for children's creativity. Sculpting from it is not difficult and exciting. You can mold figures, make a composition or a panel. In addition, modeling from plasticine is a very useful activity for the development of fine motor skills, spatial thinking, the formation of artistic taste and imagination in children. In the process of modeling, special points on the palms and fingers of the baby are massaged, activating the work of the brain and contributing to the development of speech and intelligence.

You can start introducing a child to plasticine as early as 1-1.5 years old. For such children, there is a special absolutely safe plasticine made on a plant basis. Of course, the baby is still beyond the power to sculpt something, but it will be very useful to master the material and learn the basic modeling techniques.
How to do right choice plasticine from all the variety presented in stores?

Criteria for choosing plasticine.

1. Good plasticine for children must be soft and elastic; children simply cannot stretch hard material.

2. In no case should plasticine crumble and dry out in the air, this indicates its low quality.

3. Individual pieces of plasticine must be firmly connected to each other during the sculpting process. Otherwise, it will be quite difficult to make crafts from plasticine, and children will quickly lose interest in such an activity.

4. High quality plasticine does not stick to hands, does not stain hands, table and clothes, and is also easily washed with soap and water.

Requirements for the safety of plasticine.

1. When buying plasticine, the first thing you need to pay attention to is the composition of the product indicated on the package. Ordinary plasticine is made from clay powder with various additives of natural origin - wax, fat, petroleum jelly, ozocerite, etc. Plasticine should not contain hazardous chemicals - solvents, thickeners, dyes. If they are present, then the product has a name - plastic, but not plasticine. Work with it is allowed for children only after 7 years.

2. Children's plasticine should also not include petroleum products. You can, before you buy, sniff the plasticine bars. If the smell of gasoline or rubber is clearly felt, then you should refrain from such a purchase.

3. Before buying, open the box with plasticine. It's a good sign if it's clean on the inside, it shouldn't have greasy spots on it, indicating a low quality product.

4. The latex, fragrances and gluten contained in plasticine can cause a child to varying degrees allergic reactions. It is not recommended to buy such plasticine for kids.

5. Today there is flavored plasticine. Most often it smells like different fruits. Most likely, the child will want to taste it. It is not safe to buy such plasticine.

When working with plasticine, it is important to remember that a child should only sculpt under the supervision of an adult. How less baby, the higher the risk that the plasticine will be in his mouth. You should not scold the baby for this - after all, this is how he learns the world, this is a normal phenomenon. It is better to take care of the quality of plasticine in advance, offering the child high-quality and safe material.

One of the most effective activities for the development of fine motor skills is modeling. According to experts, sculpting should begin as early as possible. In this article, I will present our favorite exercises.

When reading materials about how interesting modeling is for children, do not forget that most children at the age of 1 year are conservatives and love the established order. They have only recently come to terms with the idea that all toys are soft or hard. Plasticine is a completely new consistency for the baby, which threatens the existence of everything familiar. At least go and re-check all the items, suddenly one of them is in consistency, like plasticine.

In addition, any creative activity requires not only the formation of a skill, but also the enjoyment of the result. This requires awareness of the results and their capabilities, which is very weak in the second year of life. Therefore, if you decide to do modeling with a baby under two years old, do not expect much jubilation and joy.

The simplest element - “sticks” (cylinders) is mastered by most children in the third year of life. Some cope with the cylinder only in three years. After mastering the cylinders, you can take on the balls.

The book "Plasticine beads" contains 8 pages of exercises for gluing balls. A one-year-old kid will do just fine with them. For a two-year-old, you can complicate the tasks by offering ordinary plasticine. It is more elastic and modeling with it will be more useful for the development of finger motor skills. One of the best is the classic plasticine produced by Luch (Chemical Plant).

In "Plasticine Oranges" there are 8 pages of exercises for creating all kinds of balls:

Happy sculpting!

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I have already written many times about how important the baby is. Yes, I think you know this very well without me. Therefore, today, without further ado, I want to tell you about another fascinating and very useful occupation- about modeling with kids and how you can play if you have a piece of dough on hand. All these games are useful not only for the development of fine motor skills, but also for the development of imagination, thinking, perseverance of the baby.

Often, mothers ask themselves the question: “What is better to choose for classes with a baby: dough or plasticine?” In my opinion, it would be better if you give the child the opportunity to get acquainted with different substances and sensations, you will conduct classes with both dough and plasticine. But here for the smallest (from 1 year old) it is better to use dough in modeling classes and that's why:

The dough is much softer and more pliable than clay, and for kids who still find it difficult to knead clay, this is important.

Considering the fact that many kids will want to taste the modeling mass, the dough (home-made) is much safer from this point of view, since its main components are flour, salt and water, and plasticine is still a combination of chemical components.

The dough can be prepared independently, or can be purchased at a store (for example, "Play Doh"). But if you knead the dough at home at least once, then, for sure, you will no longer want to deal with the purchased one. Homemade dough is more plastic, softer, more pleasant, and there is a lot of it! In addition, the process of preparing the dough is quite simple and does not take much time.

So how do you make play dough? Here are two test recipes that I have repeatedly tested and I really like. The first recipe can be called a classic salt dough recipe. The dough on it is prepared very quickly and simply, it is often used to create durable crafts, after drying it can be painted.

Salt dough for modeling - a classic recipe

1 cup flour

½ cup salt (preferably "extra")

½ glass of water

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Mix all ingredients and mix well until smooth.

Recipe for a very plastic dough

And one more recipe for a very, very soft, plastic, homogeneous and, I would even say, ideal dough! :) It is not suitable for drying and painting, but for fun games with the test fits perfectly.

1 cup flour

1 glass of water

¼ cup salt

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tsp citric acid

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, stir, then place over medium heat. After that, we begin to actively stir the dough with a spoon until it forms a ball and stops sticking to our hands. It will take no more than 3 minutes to mix. After the dough has cooled, you can start playing with it.

Do not neglect such a seemingly insignificant ingredient as lemon acid! If you do not add it, then after storage in the refrigerator, the dough will begin to stick to your hands.

You can add to any test food coloring. If you do not have a dye to tint the dough, you can use beet or carrot juice, turmeric, brilliant green, gouache. Well, if you divide the dough into several parts and color them in different colours, it will be even more interesting!

Both doughs keep in the refrigerator in a closed container for quite a long time (several weeks).

Test games

So, you have the dough, what to do with it next? First of all, of course, you need to introduce the baby to the test. Give him the opportunity to touch, crush him. You can mold some kind of bun or bunny in order to show what the dough is capable of. If the acquaintance went well, you can move on to games.

Remember that the whole lesson should not last longer than 5-10 minutes. Do not try to include all the games in one lesson, watch the baby and always stop before he gets tired of the lesson. If a child loses interest in a particular game, it may be too easy or too difficult for him. Try to simplify or make the task easier.

1. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin

The kid, most likely, will begin to roll out the dough with pleasure, because he has seen more than once how his mother does it. If the crumbs are not good at wielding a rolling pin, help him by clasping his hands with yours.

Both a toy and a real kitchen rolling pin are suitable for the game. My daughter likes to roll with a big rolling pin even more.

2. Press various objects into the dough

Further, you can declare that the resulting cake is not just a cake, but a pizza or cake, which now needs to be decorated. And for this purpose, you can use a variety of items: matches, pasta, beans, counting sticks, small toys, covers, etc. Try to use objects of different shapes and sizes to diversify the child's tactile sensations.

3. Create simple crafts based on pressing objects into the dough

Here are some examples:

• Hedgehog

For the smallest, toothpicks can be replaced with matches or counting sticks.

• little man

Be sure to involve the child in rolling the torso and head. If the baby is not doing well yet, take his hands in yours and make rotational movements together.

4. Pinch off small pieces of dough, put them in a jar / bowl

This activity is very useful for the development of fine motor skills, as it trains the "plucked" grip. Beating the lesson is quite simple: invite the kid to feed his favorite bear with sweets. The game is likely to appeal to the smallest - children about a year old. At this age, kids really like to mess with small objects, fold and shift them.

5. Prick the dough on a fork

The same sweets that you made for the bear, try also to stick on the fork. You can tell the baby that the bear prefers to eat only from a fork, but refuses in a different way. So in the game we will quietly work out a very useful skill.

6. Cut with a knife

In this lesson, the main thing is to teach the child to hold the knife correctly and, importantly, to independently hold the dough with his left hand (if the baby is right-handed). A toy plastic knife, a special plastic dough knife or a butter knife are well suited for playing. The lesson will be interesting for a baby from about 1 year 3 months.

7. Leave prints on the test

We press the toy into the dough, carefully remove it and ale-op, on the dough it turns out beautiful pattern! Taisiya was simply delighted with this activity, and could get carried away for a long time, imprinting pasta on the dough.

Good for printing sorter figures, pasta tubes, small toys, designer parts, fork, hairbrush . Well, if a car passes through the test, leaving traces (preferably with big wheels and protectors on them), then the baby will most likely appreciate it.

And, of course, it is worth mentioning the cookie cutters separately. With the help of them, you can not only make beautiful prints. With older kids, you can try to remove the "excess" dough around the molds so that you get "cookies".

Fingerprints can also be made with just a finger. After that, it will be very interesting to “sow” the seeds into the resulting holes. It will turn out another wonderful exercise for the development of a "tweezer" grip.

8. Pass the dough through a garlic press

9. Put the dough into a mold - make a pie

For this game, you can use both cupcake molds and clean molds from the sand set. Putting the dough in a mold, we try to properly compact each piece. Most likely, you will have to get the pie out of the mold with your mother's help, because. this job is not easy.

10. Hiding surprises in the dough and finding them

This is our favorite game. I think all children love when there is a surprise moment in the game. They are ready to open intricate locks, unscrew stubborn covers, just to see what is hidden behind them. Children are happy to find surprises, even if they themselves hid them!

Therefore, in this lesson, first, together with the baby, we hide the toy in the dough, putting it on one half of the cake and closing the second. Older kids can be offered to pinch the edges, as when sculpting a pie. For younger children, mom can do it. Well, then we ask ourselves the question “Where is our hedgehog?” or “Oh, who is hiding here?”. Perhaps, at the first games, the baby will have to show how to "dig" to the toy. Most likely, the baby will catch everything very quickly and will subsequently pick up the dough with impatience.

Even such a seemingly simple task is incredibly useful for children's fingers.

11. Sculpt sausages, koloboks and simple figures with my mother's help.

That's all for me, I wish you pleasant joint games and more happy smiles on your baby's face! I would be very grateful if you share this article with your friends in in social networks(there are special buttons for this at the bottom of the article). Well, in order not to miss new articles, subscribe to updates in Instagram,

Children love to sculpt from plasticine.

After all, it is not only possible to form various figures from it, but also to remake them several times, smearing yourself and smearing everything around.

But what is safe plasticine? How to choose plasticine for a child?

For children's creativity, plasticine is indispensable. But it must be safe and non-toxic. After all, there are cases of swallowing it. This is especially true for children from one year to 2.5.

1. You need to choose not too bright shades. Calm tones are best suited for modeling.

2. Plasticine must be malleable and elastic. It should not melt in the hands and crumble. But it should be easy to warm up from the warmth of the hands and sculpt without much effort.

3. Composition. In its composition, children's plasticine should not have toxic substances and elements that can harm the child.

4. For very young children, it is better to buy edible masses for modeling because of the possibility of accidental swallowing.

5. Smell. Plasticine should have a pleasant aroma so that the baby likes to work with it.

6. Pieces of high-quality plasticine should mix well and stick to each other.

7. A craft molded from high-quality plasticine should not lose its shape and disintegrate into its component parts.

8. Plasticine should not stain hands and clothes much, and if it leaves marks a little, then they should be easily washed off and washed off with warm water and soap.

9. Additives in plasticine should be only vegetable.

10. Good plasticine should be easily cut in stacks.

11. Also, good plasticine should roll easily on any surface and between the palms, without sticking to them.

12. High-quality plasticine is effortlessly removed from the surface with a stack, leaving no stains.

13. It also easily sticks to paper, wood, plastic, cardboard.

14. Good plasticine can stay outdoors for a long time without changing its qualities.

When buying plasticine, be sure to consider the age of the baby.

What is the difference different kinds plasticine?

Composition. If you buy plasticine so that the baby can sculpt figures from it, give preference to wax compositions. Such plasticine holds its shape well, but it is quite hard and elastic, so the baby will have to spend some time and make some effort to soften it. Although this is not bad, since the child thus trains the fingers and develops fine motor skills.

If you need plasticine to create paintings, then it is better to buy more viscous grades.

Pay attention to the fact that the more colors in the package, the more interesting it is to combine them.

Safe plasticine and its types:

1. The classic ordinary plasticine is the one that we sculpted in childhood. Some varieties of such plasticine are a little harsh and require preliminary kneading, but there are also soft initially. Some brands of such plasticine get their hands dirty and are poorly washed.

There is also a kind of such plasticine - wax. It is much softer than usual, it is better molded and glued together. This is a multi-colored soft material for modeling. It lends itself well to mixing colors, you can remake and finish the figures several times from it.
It is often sold in the form of rectangular bars.

The most high-quality of this type of plasticine of the following brands:
- Cartoons, manufacturer: Gamma, Russia. Plasticine is well connected to each other and colors are easily mixed. Before work it is necessary to knead. Leaves on paper greasy traces. After work, hands can be washed with warm water and soap without much effort. Some colors "dirty" (mostly dark - black and blue).

Krokha, manufacturer: Luch plant, Russia. Designed specifically for young children. Doesn't stain hands. Plasticine is very soft, so it does not require preliminary kneading. With it, you can not only sculpt, but also draw on paper and cardboard, creating three-dimensional paintings.

Sun, manufacturer: Gamma, Russia. (Labyrinth, My-shop). The properties are similar to Cartoons, just the colors are brighter and richer.

2. Ball plasticine

Ball plasticine is an amazing material, the game with which will delight children.
Plasticine consists of small, very light granules, interconnected with safe colored glue.
Plasticine from balls is very light and does not stick to hands, and its relief surface is an excellent massager for children's fingers. Crafts from such plasticine retain their shape well.

There are two types of plasticine: when the balls are colored, and the adhesive gel between them is colorless, and when the balls are white, and the adhesive is colored. In the second case, the balls can be mixed and new colors can be obtained.

Also, ball plasticine can be air-drying and not drying out. Non-drying - reusable, and drying out makes excellent figurines-toys that a child can play with.

Such plasticine is fine-grained and coarse-grained, the difference is only in the size of the balls.

You can work with ball plasticine in different ways: as with ordinary plasticine - sculpt the elements of crafts in one color, you can mix the balls. Ball plasticine can also be used for making applications - for this you need to distribute multi-colored balls over the surface. Some types of ball plasticine glow in the dark.

The plasticine feels very pleasant, it adheres well to itself and to the modeling mass. Holds up well on paper.

Examples of ball plasticine:

Plasticine ball HOBBY, manufacturer: China. Fine-grained, hardens in air, does not stick to hands and clothes. The colors are bright. It is inconvenient that all the colors are in one box and if the lid is not closed, then all the colors dry up. Therefore, it is better to transfer to separate jars.

Ball-cored plasticine Dr. Charlie, manufacturer: Taiwan.

Set for creating three-dimensional sculpture. The set includes everything you need. Plasticine: gray, white, white with sparkles, blue, lilac, yellow, orange, pink, green. The set includes: wire 12 pieces multi-colored, eyes 10 pieces, pompoms 12 pieces multi-colored and shiny, feathers 5 pieces colored, shapes made of EVA multi-colored and various.

Plasticine from balls is very light and does not stick to hands.

Set for modeling Greenwich Line "Animals" (OZON), manufacturer: China.

The set will allow you to mold miniature figures in the form of an octopus, an ostrich, a swan, a cat and a hedgehog. The ball mass for modeling, which is part of the set, has an interesting texture and does not harden in the open air, which means it can be used several times.
The kit includes mass for modeling pink, gray, yellow and white flowers, four plastic elements in the form of a peephole with movable pupils and a detailed illustrated instruction in Russian.

You can see the entire range of ball clays: Online store Labyrinth.

3. Plasticine that hardens

It, as a rule, has bright saturated colors and freezes during the day. A figurine made from such plasticine can be an excellent toy or decoration for a child's room. You can even create your own collection of them. It is also interesting to make Christmas decorations from such plasticine.

4. Sculptural clay

This is a professional sculpting material. It is used most often by professional sculptors and students of art schools. It has a wax base and holds its shape well.

5. Art clay

Suitable for children school age. It is soft and hard. The first is well suited for the manufacture of applications and paintings, the second - three-dimensional figures.

6. Special mass for modeling

It is suitable even for small children, because it is non-toxic and very soft. The disadvantage of this material is that it dries quickly. It must not be kept outdoors.

7. Floating plasticine

Figurines made from it float well in water, while it does not dry out (it can be used repeatedly) and does not melt.

8. Modeling paste

It is interesting in that it is pleasant to the touch and with its help figures are made, which can then also be decorated.

9. Jumping plasticine

It is interesting in that the balls made from it jump well.

10. Plant-based plasticine is suitable for the smallest sculptors. Even if the baby pulls a piece into his mouth during modeling, nothing bad will happen. And the desire to repeat the experiment he is unlikely to arise. After all, this material, although edible, is very tasteless. It is usually made from flour or starch. Another advantage of such plasticine is that it is much softer than usual, so it will be very convenient for the child to work with fragile fingers.

I listed the types of plasticine that I myself encountered. But I'm sure this list is far from complete. What plasticine do your children play with? Share with us in the comments.

After all, all parents want their kids to develop harmoniously, and modeling allows you to improve the work of your fingers and develop fine motor skills, as well as such important qualities as perseverance, scrupulousness, diligence, imagination, attention, imagination, memory and others. Therefore, this activity cannot be ignored.

All parents try to diversify the leisure time of their children. Together with them they draw, sculpt, carve, read books. They pick up activities for little fidgets that are not only exciting, but also safe. This means that materials for children's creativity and toys for entertainment must be carefully selected, or even better, made by hand, then there will be no doubt about their quality. We suggest you make your own plasticine.

Such plasticine is easy to prepare at home, it is not at all expensive and absolutely safe. You can safely go away for a while on your own business, while the baby is sculpting bears, bunnies or men, not at all afraid that he might swallow a piece, since all the ingredients are completely edible and will not harm health. Do not be lazy and in just 10-20 minutes please the children with homemade plasticine!

Step 1: Selection of materials and tools

We'll need
- 250 ml of water,
- 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil,
- 100g salt,
- 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar (or citric acid),
- food coloring,
- 150 g flour,
- pan.
Cream of tartar (monopotassium tartrate) is an acidic salt used as a leavening agent. It is sold in small packages, like spices, in large stores.
If you do not want to use artificial dyes, it is quite possible to replace them with natural ones. For example, you can take cocoa, turmeric, beet juice, carrots, spinach, blueberries or other berries. Show a little imagination, and you will have a whole gamut of all kinds of colors and shades.

Step 2: Getting Ready

Put the saucepan on a small fire.

Step 3: Mixing the Ingredients

Pour all the ingredients into the pan, except for the flour, we will add it later.

Step 4: Adding flour

When the mixture in the pan warms up, add the flour.

Step 5: Cooking