Passover Playdough Loose Parts Plague Bags

One of the Passover Seder traditions our kids look forward to every year is the plague bags I give them during the naming of the 10 plagues portion of the Seder and I really hope they will like these new Passover Playdough Loose Parts Plague Bags I made for them this year! Each year the content, if not the theme, is a surprise and a really fun way for us all to engage with the Seder, and the Passover story.

Do you make plague bags for your children? For us, it’s a fun and interactive way for the kids to learn and review the plagues as we name each one. By seeing a visual representation of each plague it’s also easier for them to remember the plagues themselves. And I am always trying to find hands-on activities the kids can do during the Seder so they feel engaged and we all have a meaningful Seder experience.

We absolutely love playdough in this house, and loose parts play, so when this idea came to me I figured it would be a winner—check on our Instagram after the first night to see what the kiddos thought!

These plague bags have a lot of DIY and are easy to make, if a little time consuming with creating the stampers. But give them a try and let me know what your kids think!

What You’ll Need

Cardboard or wooden discs. If you use wooden discs, we love the 2 inch wooden discs from Woodpeckers Crafts. Use our WithLoveIma5 discount code!
Plague Disc free printable (could totally use these images for other Passover related activities too—memory, I Spy, sequencing. So many options!)
Scissors
Mod podge
Paint brush
Glue gun
Dowels or small wooden pieces
10 plastic bags
Red vase fillers
Googly eyes
Black beans (uncooked)
Recycled plastic container (white)
Red jewels
White small rocks
Black sharpie
Clear vase filler
Clothespins
Green paint
Black pom poms
Foam heart stickers
Paper bag
Kosher for Passover Playdough: 1 1/2 cups potato starch, 2 cups baking soda, 1 1/3 cups water, 2 Tbsp oil.

Putting It Together

First, make your playdough plague stampers. Print out the Plague Disc free printable. Cut out each disc.
Using mod podge, glue the discs to cardboard. Brush mod podge on top of the discs to seal them. Cut them out when dry.
Use a glue gun to copy the image on each disc with glue as best you can (absolutely does not need to be perfect!).
When dry, glue pieces of small wood or cut dowels to the back of each disc for the stamper handles.
Gather your supplies for the loose parts to represent each plague. These are the ones I found and used but you could use any loose parts that make sense to you!
- Blood = Red vase fillers
- Frogs = Googly eyes
- Lice = Black beans (uncooked)
- Wild beasts = Recycled plastic container cut into small triangles to look like teeth
- Boils = Red jewels
- Cattle disease = Use a black sharpie to color black shapes on white small rocks
- Hail = Clear vase filler
- Locusts = Paint Clothespins green
- Darkness = Black pom poms
- Death of the firstborn = Foam heart stickers to represent the sadness we hold in our hearts about this plague
Put each plague stamper and corresponding loose parts in a separate plastic bag.
Make the kosher for Passover playdough. Add 2 cups baking soda, 1 1/2 cups potato starch, 1 1/3 cups boiling water, 2 Tbsp oil and food coloring to a bowl. Stir, then knead the dough to desired consistency. You may need to add a little more potato starch. The playdough is stickier than normal flour playdough. Once ready, separate the playdough into as many plastic bags as you have children.
Place all bags and playdough into a paper bag (decorate if you wish! I glued a little plagues sign onto our bags (second page of the Plague Discs printable)).
Have the bags ready so that when you come to the naming of the 10 plagues section of the Seder, you can easily pass out a bag to each child. Have them pull out all the plague stampers and loose parts bag. As each plague is called out, they can search for the bag that represents the plague and set it aside. When all plagues have been called out they can open and play with the stampers, playdough and loose parts as they wish while they listen and participate in the rest of the Seder.

Finished & Loving It!

I’m a huge fan of interactive Seders and I make a different type of plague bag each year to engage my kids in this section of the Seder as well as beyond as they play with the items or do the activities while listening to the rest of the Seder. Check out my plague bags from previous years here and here!

Playdough has so many amazing developmental benefits and we always have a bag in our house for play. The kosher for Passover playdough feels different from regular playdough but that’s the point—this night (holiday) feels different from the rest and it’s special to have our play reflect that same concept!

Loose parts play is also an amazing creative and developmental experience! Loose parts can really be anything you find that works for you and your theme. I’ve shared what I found and used but you can be creative—whatever works! I plan to ask my kids how they think each loose parts represents the corresponding plague. If they get stuck I’m happy to help them understand my thought process but I’m really excited for them to draw their own connections.