Benefits of Plasticine for Children
Plasticine provides excellent entertainment for children. It allows them to let their imagination soar and create all kinds of figures. In this article we’ll share with you some of the main benefits of plasticine for children.
Plasticine is one of the most popular toys among children. That’s why we’ve decided to review both the learning and entertainment benefits that plasticine provides for kids.
Plasticine is without a doubt ranked as one of your child’s favorite toys. And it’s ideal for parents who are looking for creative ideas to entertain their children.
Playing with this material also contributes to the child’s development of fine motor skills.
The possibilities for creating with plasticine are endless. This allows your child to spend many hours playing with it without getting bored. It also favors the application of creativity and imagination.
Plasticine allows for parents and children to create stories, characters, animals and even geometric shapes.
Benefits of plasticine for children
Plasticine has numerous benefits for children. Here are just a few:
1. More concentrated and creative children
Plasticine favors both concentration and creativity in children. While kneading, softening, separating and reassembling plasticine, children pay attention to the sizes and proportions.
2. Development of fine motor skills
The manipulation of this material allows children to develop their fine motor skills since they’re using their hands and fingers.
In addition, when the child starts to learn how to write, they’ll have more ease using pencils to make letter strokes. Therefore, it can be considered as an indirect training for writing.
3. They learn to express themselves and communicate
Plasticine can be a primary form of expression and communication. Keep in mind that when it comes to babies, contact is one of their first means of communication.
From the moment they’re born, touch is their way of communicating their feelings.
It’s certainly one of the major non-verbal means that parents and children communicate. It also helps children learn about the delimitations of their body.
4. Form of expression
When children feel trapped, frustrated or worried about the challenges in their life, the use of plasticine can promote the release of negative thoughts and emotions.
They also help reduce unhealthy habits that could be destructive or unproductive. Plasticine can be a useful tool to ease tension, frustration and aggression.
“A good toy is a toy that can be everything without being anything concrete”
–Francesco Tonucci–
5. Bringing out their inner emotions
The use of this material can help the child express a wide variety of emotions. Plasticine is moldable and therefore, it can become anything the child wants it to be.
This property allows them to express their innermost emotions and thoughts.
6. Improves self-esteem
Playing with plasticine can be a rewarding activity for children who have doubts about their creativity. It can help them improve their self-esteem and self-acceptance.
The truth is that it takes very little specific skill to use plasticine, therefore they have no real possibility of failure. This results in children being able to participate fully in this enriching activity.
7. They last for a long time
Another benefit of plasticine for children is that their creations and thoughts become tangible and free to enjoy at a later time. This allows them to admire their art over and over again.
8. Color and shape differentiation
The distinction of colors and shapes allows them to learn how to differentiate different color tonalities.
Plasticine can also be put together and taken apart, this helps them learn about different shapes and sizes.
9. Relaxation
Playing with plasticine is a flexible and manual activity which relaxes and reassures them. These properties turn it into a wonderful therapeutic tool for relaxing children during stressful moments.
10. Personality development
This last benefit of plasticine for children that we’d like to share with you is the development of personality and their own tastes.
Plasticine allows children to express their personal tastes by imagining, creating and materializing their thoughts by shaping their favorite figures or choosing from the colors they like the most.
As you can see, there are numerous benefits that plasticine can provide for children.
As a mother, it’s important to keep in mind that thanks to the multitude of colors, textures and aromas that this material offers, it’s ideal to awaken the little one’s mind.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Portilla Guerron, A. G. (2013). La plastilina como técnica de apoyo al desarrollo de la motricidad fina para los niños de 3 a 4 años (Bachelor’s thesis, UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGICA EQUINOCCIAL. FACULTAD: EDUCACIÓN A DISTANCIA). http://192.188.51.77/handle/123456789/10910
- Avenia Medina, L. D. F. (2019). Mejorando la motricidad fina en los estudiantes de preescolar a través de la técnica artística del modelado con plastilina. http://repository.libertadores.edu.co/handle/11371/2014
- Arce Mamani, M. S., & Vilca Molina, J. M. (2017). La aplicación de técnicas con plastilina para el desarrollo de la coordinación oculo manual de los niños de 4 años de la Institución Educativa Privada Gregor Mendel de la ciudad de Juliaca-2016. http://repositorio.unap.edu.pe/handle/UNAP/6828
- Ambrose, P. P., & Cheong, L. S. (2011). Effects of the Clay Modeling Program on the Reading Behavior of Children with Dyslexia: A Malaysian Case Study. Asia-Pacific Education Researcher (De La Salle University Manila), 20(3). https://web.a.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=01195646&AN=70257867&h=MpnsVJ5UObGiqR5o%2b5%2fektN0EoZyeY3aYZ6IZD9MoJVEJrdcvDrUgwDyrVRHNUYxRd63kiVKjkF7M7nY9kTN8w%3d%3d&crl=c&resultNs=AdminWebAuth&resultLocal=ErrCrlNotAuth&crlhashurl=login.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26profile%3dehost%26scope%3dsite%26authtype%3dcrawler%26jrnl%3d01195646%26AN%3d70257867