After thinking about Kalina’s play dough octopus, I thought it might be interesting to explore different ways you could use play dough in centers to reinforce skills. Multi-sensory, engaging, creative, open-ended…here we go!
Let children make their favorite character and use it to retell a story.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHYBtsU8gqfnu0d0t0gIGOhBHsXwTbrUbVTejnS_cUDB86qe6Tku4QGscZMH3WOV031_RgNL3pjiJclqmq3UecSgyzSBpJW6mgkp2Lc621335hLI6TPsI9oF1NC2K0pYbALDNotGQMYLIU/s1600/Unknown-17.png)
Draw a scene from a story and add details with play dough.
Reading for Information
Make something that you learned from the book.
Reading Foundations
Rhymes – Make two objects that rhyme.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgej2bN9ywctbjrTWigtkId5rtyIFJ-s1wvAi1OYfZz9g6Hx8L0vcN8gJRUM01vacucsTOqXFyGqXAqF0ewgOoeknmWllJrDPrTuNy21AcY2RENkGl2VgLiIBN1y0-hdhcRRxVIYg4mo_w1/s1600/Unknown-14.png)
Sounds – Make objects that start with a consonant, blend, or diagraph you are working on.
Vowels- Make an object for a long vowel sound and short vowel sound.
Silly Putty
Here’s another idea a second grade teacher shared for keeping those fingers busy! She asks each parent to provide a container of silly putty that the children keep in their pencil box. If they finish their work early, they use the silly putty to create something that relates to a reading skill, math concept, science unit, etc.