10/02/2026
A little after-school project with Coleman. đ±đ»
Connecting through playdough.
Even at 20 (and at my age đ), we still love pulling out the ingredients and making a fresh batch together. And hereâs the sweet part - while our hands are busy measuring, stirring, squishing and rolling⊠our nervous systems are quietly doing the same thing: settling, syncing, softening. Thatâs co-regulation in real life.
As you can see, green is the clear favourite - it reminds him of The Hulk.
Playdough is such a brilliant tool for building strong fingers, fine motor skills, and hand strength, learning about shapes, letters, maths, science and so much more. Coleman has low muscle tone, so it affects his hands and his writing - play like this supports him in a way that feels fun, not âwork.â
Today we did some emotion naming too, and he shaped his playdough into what each feeling looked like to him - it was a great laugh.
Then he created the letter âCâ and Iâm anticipating, âC for Coleman!â âŠbut nope.
âC for cease it,â he says.
Iâm like, âWhat?â
And heâs like, âFrom Glee!â đ
Coleman measured and mixed while I poured in the boiling water. He stirred with a wooden spoon until his hands got tired, then I took over - and he liked it so much we made another batch.
Thanks, Coleman⊠because that second batch is coming with me to work to share with the juniors as a hands-on way to learn about co-regulation.
When was the last time you made some playdough for some fun?
