All sorts of variations can be added to this but I divided the class into two teams. I gave each team a "Bag of Life" (containing the ingredients to make the playdough-- you could even throw in a few things that aren't in the recipe as well), measuring spoons and cups and a bowl and mixing spoon. One Team gets the recipe to follow the other team is just told to make playdough. Invariably the team without the recipe ends up making a soupy mess.. thus illustrating following the recipe/commandments pays off. Definitely a lot to work with if you wanted to further develop this parable.
Below is what I made into a little handout for the kiddos along with a little bag of playdough to take home. ENJOY!
The Parable
of the Playdough
It's all in the following the recipe/commandments
When
someone gives us a recipe, is it to make sure we don't have any fun in the
kitchen?... No, it is to help us know how to make what you want to make. If we
want to make play dough, we need to follow the recipe for play dough. The same thing goes for commandments. The
commandments are Heavenly Father's recipe to help us have a good life . Just as choosing not to follow the recipe for
Playdough makes goop instead of Playdough; bending the rules and picking and
choosing what commandments we are going to keep, won't make us happy. We want to return to live with Heavenly Father
and Jesus Christ again and obeying the commandments helps us get there.
No Fuss
Play Dough from Easy Kids
Recipes
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup salt
1 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 cups flour
1 tablespoons cornstarch
Food coloring
In a large bowl, mix together water, salt, oil and a few drops of food coloring. Mix flour and cornstarch and add 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly (you may need a little more or a little less than 2 cups flour so make sure you stir in until it is the right consistency). Knead for a few minutes with flour on your hands.
