Are there any mathematical books talking about how to use things like dough to make fun things?

Did you mean "fun" things, or "funny" things as you said?  And "fun things ...elegantly"?  And don't understand what your 2014-05-31: update is about (bubblegum, polymer clay, etc). And what age are the kids you're thinking of... 8 or 18? If you just meant fun things that doughs and other clays can be used for to make things that help illustrate math principles, etc, there would be lots of them.  Again, I'm not sure I really understand your question though, especially without examples, but you might be interested in some of the ideas below, most of which I'd selected for younger kids but which could still be done in more complex ways with older ones, and involve the "dough" air-dry clays like salt dough clay: There are various ideas on the Kids page of my polymer clay site.  Some would be under Math category or other categories, since most "sculpting" (shaping) things described there could be done with any clays. http://glassattic.com/polymer/kids_beginners.htm That page also has ideas for using clay to create game figures (including chess), using magnets on the backs of clay items to use for learning boards or games, making action toys (some definitely involving physics/math principles but could be in simple form), If they wanted to get into at least simple "caning" with air-dry clays, they could also make their own simple canes (patterned logs, even like jellyroll cakes), then cut them into segments to rearrange in various patterns to learn about grids, row, columns, symmetry, reflection, mirror, etc: http://glassattic.com/polymer/canes--instructions.htm (look down under the category "Symmetry and Repetition") They could also create a tessellation shape as a thick solid-color log, then allow it to dry**, and cut into multiple slices to put together as a finished tessellation. Air-dry clay "quilt" patterns can be made in similar ways but perhaps only with squares (9-Patch, Trip Around the World, Irish Chain, Rows, etc) or with both squares and (half-square) triangles, then just glue them to a sheet of cardstock in patterns (for much more info on those, check out my answer in this previous question at YahooAnswers: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100131094207AAamCs8 Some easy square + half-square triangle patterns would be simple rows of triangles, or pinwheels (simple version),  zigzags, diamonds, hourglass, etc. ...and https://disneyimagicademy.com/mickeys-math-activities-tissue-paper-shapes-quilt/ (although the orange pattern also uses quarter-square triangles which get a bit more complicated to cut)   Mosaic tiles could be made by coloring the dough, rolling out into sheets, then cutting into various regular or irregular tile (tesserae) shapes.  Once dry they could be set into various kinds of mortar or perhaps even a sheet of raw dough.  http://glassattic.com/polymer/mosaics_inlay.htm (first half of page) **for best fit later, shape as evenly down the log as possible, and allow to dry naturally so it will dry evenly