Make some festive sensory dough

This simple, homemade dough is a great, cheap way to learn how Christmas can be experienced through all the senses, including touch and smell, as it challenges a child to use senses other than sight when making and playing with the dough.

Follow the simple recipe below, using cinnamon, cloves, peppermint or orange essential oils to recreate the smells of Christmas.

What you will need:

• Two cups plain flour
• Half a cup of salt
• One tablespoon cream of tartar
• One tablespoon vegetable oil
• Food colouring
• A few drops glycerine (optional but it gives a lovely shine and stretch).

Step 1

First, combine these dry ingredients:

• Two cups plain flour
• Half a cup of salt
• One tablespoon cream of tartar.

Step 2

Then add:

• One tablespoon vegetable oil
• Food colouring
• A few drops glycerine (optional but it gives a lovely shine and stretch).

Step 3

Slowly and carefully add up to one and a half cups of boiling water until the dough comes together. Exactly how much depends on how wet the other ingredients were i.e. food colouring and glycerine.

Step 4

Add scent or texture to the dough, using the following:

• Festive spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg or allspice. Or use Christmas-scented essential oils (these can be very strong so add just a little)
• Oats, rice, rock salt and lentils (for texture).

If you have them, use textured rolling pins alongside your usual cutters and rollers. And for an extra challenge, why not see if you can make Santa’s sleigh together?

Children with vision impairment are taught how to use all their senses to develop an understanding of the world. This simple, inexpensive homemade dough illustrates how Christmas can be experienced through senses other than vision.