Children learn best when they can explore the world using their senses. Touching different textures, noticing colours, identifying familiar smells, and creating something with their hands can turn everyday play into a meaningful learning experience.
This is where sensory play becomes so valuable. One simple activity that brings together touch, sight, smell, creativity, and imagination is scented playdough.
The Sensory Scented Dough Collection by The Children's Lab takes traditional playdough and turns it into a multi-sensory experience with 12 colours and distinctive scents designed to encourage children to explore, create, and learn through play.
What Is Sensory Play?
Sensory play involves activities that engage one or more of a child's senses. Instead of simply looking at or using a toy, children actively experience its texture, appearance, smell, movement, or sound.
Playdough is particularly effective because children can continuously interact with it by:
-
Squeezing
-
Rolling
-
Pinching
-
Pressing
-
Sculpting
-
Mixing
-
Shaping
When scents and colours are added, children get even more opportunities to explore and identify sensory differences.
Why Is Scented Playdough Different?
Regular playdough primarily focuses on touch and visual exploration. Scented dough adds another sensory element: smell.
Children can associate different colours with different fragrances, creating opportunities for simple games around recognition, memory, matching, and imagination.
The Sensory Scented Dough Collection contains 12 individual tubs, with each tub containing 120g of taste-safe sensory dough. The collection includes scents such as Strawberry, Peach, Lemon, Cotton Candy, Kiwi, Grape, Pink Guava, Blue Curaco, Banana, Caramel, Coconut, and Coffee.
5 Benefits of Scented Sensory Play
1. Develops Fine Motor Skills
Rolling, squeezing, pinching, and moulding dough naturally encourage children to use the small muscles in their hands and fingers.
Regular manipulation of playdough can help develop hand strength and coordination—skills that are useful for activities such as drawing, writing, cutting, and handling everyday objects.
2. Encourages Sensory Exploration
Scented dough engages multiple senses at once: touch, sight, and smell.
Children can compare different textures, colours, and scents while exploring how each one feels and smells.
This makes play more immersive than simply playing with a conventional toy.
3. Builds Creativity and Imagination
There is no fixed outcome when children play with dough.
A pink piece can become a cupcake. Yellow dough can become a banana. Green dough can become a tree. Several colours can be combined to create an entirely new object.
This open-ended approach allows children to decide what they want to create rather than simply following predetermined instructions.
4. Supports Early Cognitive Development
Scented playdough can introduce simple learning concepts without making learning feel like a lesson.
Parents can ask children to:
-
Identify colours
-
Match scents
-
Recognise patterns
-
Sort different colours
-
Count pieces
-
Compare sizes
-
Create sequences
-
Describe what they have made
The Children's Lab specifically highlights scent recognition, colour identification, pattern recognition, problem solving, and learning through play as areas supported by its sensory dough activities.
5. Encourages Screen-Free Play
Children don't always need complicated toys to stay engaged.
A few tubs of dough can provide an open-ended activity where children create their own games, characters, stories, and imaginary worlds.
It can also become a great opportunity for parents and children to sit together, create, and interact.
12 Scents, 12 Creative Possibilities
The collection is designed around a combination of rainbow, neutral, and pastel-inspired shades.
Inside the box are:
-
🍓 Strawberry
-
🍑 Peach
-
🍋 Lemon
-
🍬 Cotton Candy
-
🥝 Kiwi
-
🍇 Grape
-
🌸 Pink Guava
-
🩵 Blue Curaco
-
🍌 Banana
-
🍮 Caramel
-
🥥 Coconut
-
☕ Coffee
Every scent can inspire a different play idea.
For example, Strawberry could become a pretend dessert shop, Banana could become part of a fruit market, while Coffee and Caramel could inspire a pretend café.
Fun Scented Dough Activities for Kids
Create a Pretend Bakery
Give your child several colours and ask them to create cupcakes, cookies, cakes, or other pretend treats.
Encourage them to name each creation and describe its scent.
Play "Guess the Scent"
Place a few dough colours in front of your child and let them smell each one.
Ask them to identify the scent and match it to the correct colour.
Build a Fruit Market
Use different colours to create fruits and vegetables.
Children can sort them by colour, create groups, count them, and pretend to run their own market.
Create New Colours
Allow children to mix two colours together and see what happens.
This turns simple play into an introduction to colour experimentation and cause-and-effect learning.
Tell a Story
Start with one character made from dough and ask your child:
"Who is this?"
Then build the story together.
Maybe the character owns a bakery, lives in a forest, or is going on an adventure. Let your child create new objects and characters as the story develops.
Sensory Play Doesn't Need to Be Complicated
One of the biggest advantages of playdough is how easy it is to set up.
You don't need elaborate equipment or a complicated activity plan. Simply provide a clean play surface, a few tubs of dough, and some open-ended prompts.
For younger children, adult supervision is recommended. The Children's Lab states that its dough is made using food-grade ingredients and is lab-tested and certified as taste-safe, while also recommending supervised play.
How to Store Scented Dough
Good storage helps maintain the dough's soft texture and scents.
After playtime:
-
Return the dough to its airtight container.
-
Keep the containers in a cool, dry place.
-
Avoid direct sunlight.
-
Use clean hands while playing.
-
Keep the dough away from moisture and dirt.
If the dough becomes slightly dry, the product page recommends kneading in a tiny amount of water or vegetable oil to help restore softness.
A Simple Activity With Big Learning Opportunities
Sensory play doesn't have to look like formal education to support development.
When a child squeezes dough, they are using their hands.
When they sort colours, they are practising categorisation.
When they identify scents, they are exploring sensory recognition.
When they create a character, they are using imagination.
When they explain their creation, they are practising communication.
And when they play alongside a parent, they are building connection.
That's what makes sensory play so powerful—it allows learning to happen naturally through play.
Make Play More Sensory
If you're looking for a creative, screen-free activity that combines colour, touch, scent, imagination, and learning, explore the Sensory Scented Dough Collection – Set of 12 from The Children's Lab.
With 12 scented colours and countless ways to create, mix, match, and explore, it can turn ordinary playtime into a colourful sensory adventure.
