Дочка говорит, что ей нравится мастерить из картона, а не только лепить из пластилина.

Дочка is a more affectionate, everyday form of дочь.

• дочь = daughter, the basic dictionary form
• дочка = daughter / little daughter, often warmer or more personal

In many real-life sentences, Russians use дочка very naturally when talking about their own daughter. It does not always mean she is very young; it can simply sound more loving.

Говорит is the 3rd person singular present tense of говорить.

So it means:

• she says
• or, depending on context, she is saying

Russian present tense often covers both simple present and present progressive, so говорит can match either English form.

Because что introduces a subordinate clause.

The sentence has two parts:

• Дочка говорит
• что ей нравится мастерить...

So the comma separates the main clause from the that-clause, just as English often does in longer written sentences.

Here что means that and introduces reported speech or reported thought.

So the structure is:

• X говорит, что... = X says that...

This is one of the most common patterns in Russian.

Because нравиться works differently from English to like.

Russian uses a structure closer to:

• To her, it is pleasing

So:

• ей = to her
• нравится = is pleasing / is liked

That is why the person who experiences the liking is in the dative case:

• мне нравится = I like
• тебе нравится = you like
• ей нравится = she likes

By contrast, она нравится would mean she is pleasing / she is liked, usually to someone else, and would need more context.

After нравится, Russian often uses the infinitive to talk about liking an activity.

So:

• ей нравится мастерить = she likes crafting / she likes to make things
• ей нравится лепить = she likes sculpting/modeling

English often uses either to do or doing, but Russian normally uses the infinitive here.

Because the whole infinitive phrase can be treated as one general idea or one combined activity.

So Russian commonly says:

• Ей нравится петь и танцевать
• Ей нравится читать и рисовать

Even though there are two verbs, the sentence often keeps нравится in the singular because the entire action phrase is felt as one unit: doing these things.

Мастерить is more specific than the very general verb делать.

It usually means something like:

• to craft
• to make something by hand
• to build or put together
• to tinker

So мастерить из картона suggests making handmade things out of cardboard, not just making in the broadest possible sense.

They describe different kinds of creative activity.

• мастерить = to make or craft something, often by assembling or constructing it
• лепить = to mold, sculpt, or model something out of a soft material

So:

• из картона fits naturally with мастерить
• из пластилина fits naturally with лепить

Because the preposition из takes the genitive case when it means out of / from a material.

So:

• картон → из картона
• пластилин → из пластилина

This is a very common pattern for materials:

• из дерева = out of wood
• из бумаги = out of paper
• из глины = out of clay

Here а introduces a contrast, and не только means not only / not just.

So the idea is:

• she likes doing this, and not only doing that

In this sentence, it contrasts the two activities:

• crafting from cardboard
• not just modeling with plasticine

The conjunction а is important because it marks that contrast. It is not exactly the same as simple и.

Because а is a coordinating conjunction joining two contrasted parts of the sentence.

Russian normally puts a comma before а, just as it usually does before но.

Here the comma separates:

• ей нравится мастерить из картона
• а не только лепить из пластилина

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, though the original order is very natural.

For example, you could also say:

• Дочка говорит, что мастерить из картона ей нравится, а не только лепить из пластилина.

That version puts more focus on мастерить из картона.

Still, the original sentence sounds smooth and neutral. Russian often changes word order for emphasis, rhythm, or style, not because the grammar changes.