We have become a bit play dough obsessed if I'm honest, there are just so many different ways to play with it, and it's something that Ethan and Ivy can both do together, and we just can't get enough of it. As a teacher I always printed off and laminated different play dough mats that I found online (you can find loads on Pinterest) but as I don't have a laminator at home, I thought it might be fun to just make our own play dough mats.
I used some colourful pieces of card and markers to draw some simple pictures for Ethan to add play dough to. The first one that I drew was an under water scene with some different types of fish, star fish and jelly fish as well as the typical fish shape were easy enough to draw. Then gave it to Ethan with some play dough to see what he would do. First he just went over the fish shapes with his play dough, but eventually he did start adding other fish and seaweed to the scene as well.
The next play dough mat that I made was a simple apple tree, again easy enough for even me to draw but still fun for Ethan. I drew this one with Ethan watching, so he told me where to draw each apple and how many apples to draw on the tree. So it was great for his counting skills as well as his fine motor skills rolling those tiny apples.
After that one Ethan decided that he wanted to draw his own play dough mat. His picture was a bit more complicated, it involved a space ship zooming off somewhere and an astronaut with his helmet and a lot of other details and thought that went into it.
Then when it came to using play dough on his own picture he was so excited to add to his creation and make it all pop right off of the page. It was so great to see him create his own little world on two different levels, he was completely focussed on his picture and determined to make it just right.
We will definitely be making a lot more of our own play dough mats, it's great to have another way to play with one of our favourite materials!
0 comments