How to make a play dough jungle

Your little ones will go wild for this creative play idea...

A world away from anything we were given to play with as kids, this jungle is all the best bits about conjuring up your dream world, and all it takes is a basic play dough recipe and some toys from the kids' toy box.

Little ones will love creating a magical jungle scene from a few balls of play dough and it’ll give those old animal toys a whole new lease of life.

You can use this idea to make a whole range of scenarios, what about a farm, a lake or some mountains? Let their imagination run wild and just see what they come up with – we’re always amazed at the ideas little people manage to put into action when given a simple ball of dough.

To get started you’ll need to make a batch of our basic play dough but you can then keep this for weeks, if not months, in an airtight container. If you make a few different colours it’ll provide hours of fun and if you’re lucky a few minutes of peace, too! And you never know, it might even encourage them to like brocolli...

If you’ve made something amazing from play dough, or a different kids’ craft, then we’d love to see. Share a picture with us on our Facebook page, or leave a comment in the box below.

You will need

  • Green play dough

  • Tenderstem brocolli

  • Leaves

  • Small stones

  • Plastic animals

Step 1

Make a batch of green playdough following the basic recipe and using lots of green gel food colouring. Make sure to give it a good knead so the colour is nice and evenly distributed. Although, for a textured finish you can make the colouring less uniform, giving a more marbled look.

Step 2

Help your child create a jungle scene using tenderstem broccoli for trees, leaves and stones. Then let their toy animals roam freely on their new found plains...

Our advice? Just don't use any with small details. From personal experience they can be tricky to clean. Don't say we didn't warn you!

Craft: Suzie Attaway

Rosie Conroy
Food Writer

Rosie is an experienced food and drinks journalist who has spent over a decade writing about restaurants, cookery, and foodie products. Previously Content Editor at Goodto.com and Digital Food Editor on Woman&Home, Rosie is well used to covering everything from food news through to taste tests. Now, as well as heading up the team at SquareMeal - the UK's leading guide to restaurants and bars - she also runs a wedding floristry business in Scotland called Lavender and Rose.