Almost all children enjoy playing with play dough. With this in mind I set up a play dough activity to entice our children who like to cook in the sand pit. I wanted to see if the same cooking interest could be extended through play dough.
Boston showed the first interest. He makes great cup cakes in the sand pit however was a bit hesitant to participate with the play dough at first. When he warmed up he made wonderful cup cakes and then went onto make lolly pops and carried them through the kindergarten to see you who would like one. The play dough provided a great boost of confidence and he returned to the play dough a couple of days later to make more lolly pops.
"Who wants a cup cake or a lolly pop"? said Boston
Play dough is a great activity for all children as it requires no special skills and is an open ended activity where the imagination can run wild.
What would children create given the opportunity to use natural resources from the environment?
I will make a fish snail" said Shing
"I can make a caterpillar" - said Taupaki
A few days later, we changed the colour and provided different materials...now what would children create?
I make a crocodile" - said Quin
"I made an entire family of insects" - Ella
"I made a snow man and look his head comes off" - said Zoey
"Its a dinosaur, but I make a bear cause bears go in caves and a bad bear eats them " said Jai
"I make a spider. Eight legs, I count to eight legs. Spiders have a lot of mouths, more than me they have 3" - said Abbie
"It's a man" said Natalie
"I make ice-cream cause I like ice-cream vanilla and chocolate" - said Belle
"I making a giant" - said Lucas
"I make people", I like this play dough and I didn't know I like play dough" said Jackson
The benefits of play dough include...
- fine motor skill development,
- it encourages creativity and imagination,
- it is often a calming activity,
- it is a social activity that can support the development of friendships,
- play dough also supports literacy and numeracy,
- and most of all it is fun!
