Make a lion play dough invitation to play using our simple DIY play dough recipe, a few loose parts and a bit of imagination.
This easy play dough set up we’re sharing would be a great idea to keep kids busy on the weekend or in the Summer holidays.
It’s also a perfect activity to accompany The Lion King movie – have you seen it yet? We couldn’t wait and went straight out to see it as soon as it was released!
You might also like our Lion Spoon Puppets
Making your own play dough is easy and worth while. It lasts for ages in a sealed container, and when it begins to go a bit sticky that’s the time to bin it and make a new batch.
When my kiddos were pre schoolers play dough was one of our go-to activities which could literally keep them busy for an hour or more. Sure, the mess at the end of the hour was tremendous but that was a whole hour I had to get stuff done uninterrupted whist they were happily engaged in imaginative play.
You can sit down with your kids and show them how to make a lion, and then let them go to town on whatever they’d like to create. They might want to design their own lion or make something completely different using the tri-coloured dough and loose parts you’ve provided.
But enough talking – let’s get to creating the dough and lion.
How to make Lion-themed play dough
To make the dough you will need
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup salt
- 1 Tablespoon cream of tartar
- 1 cup water
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- Food colouring – orange, yellow and black
How to make the dough
- Add the flour, salt and cream of tartar to a medium mixing bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Add the water and vegetable oil to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.
- Add the flour and salt mixture to the hot water and stir constantly until a stiff ball of dough forms. Remove dough ball from saucepan and allow to cool on your workspace for 5 minutes.
- Pull apart a piece of dough about the size of a golf ball and set aside. Divide the remaining dough in half.
- Add yellow and orange food colouring to the 2 large dough pieces. Add black food colouring to the smaller dough piece. Knead each piece of dough until the colour is evenly distributed.
- Store in an airtight zip lock bag until ready to use.
How to set up a lion-themed invitation to create
- Orange, yellow and black DIY playdough
- Googly eyes
- Orange and yellow feathers
- Black pipe cleaner
- Optional – small heart cookie cutter or plastic knife to make heart shape nose
- Small rolling pin (optional – you could also just use your hands)
- Scissors
How to create the play dough lion
1. Pull apart 2 small pieces of orange play dough about the size of a grape and set aside.
2. Roll the remaining orange play dough into a large circle. This will be the lion’s head.
3. For the ears, flatten the 2 smaller pieces of orange play dough and attach to the top of the head.
4. For the inner ears, pull apart 2 small pieces of yellow play dough. Flatten and place on the inside of the orange ears.
5. Add 2 googly eyes (or use our free printable paper eyes for a more eco-friendly version) and a heart-shaped nose placed upside down. I used a small heart cookie-cutter to make the shape but you can also just use a plastic knife to form a heart out of the play dough.
6. For the whiskers, roll 4 small pieces of black playdough (about an inch long) and place
2 of the whiskers on each side of the nose
7. Use 2 pieces of black pipe cleaner under the nose
8. Gently push yellow and orange feathers (alternating) all along the diameter of the lion face
Roar! Your lion is now complete. What else could you make?
This is a great sensory craft to make with the kids and it will give them hours of play dough fun!
More play dough ideas for kids:
- Make some cinnamon-scented “cookie” play dough
- This Christmas pudding play dough smells divine!
- Use fresh blueberries to make some blueberry play dough
