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September 16th is National Play Dough Day, but I think every day should be a play dough day in early childhood. Play dough is multi-sensory, engaging, creative, and open-ended. Play dough can be a tool just like a
worksheet, video game, or PPT. Play dough also develops small motor
skills which help children write. Here are just a few ways to integrate
it into centers and independent learning in your classroom.
Comprehension
Let children make their favorite character and use it to retell a story.
Draw a scene from a story and add details with play dough.
Make something that you learned from the book.
Phonics
Rhymes – Make two objects that rhyme.
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.
Writing
Make something you like (or don’t like) and write about it.
Make something from a book you have read and write about it.
Make letter plates by writing letters with a permanent marker on plastic plates. Children roll play dough and make the letters on top.
Make letters (or words) using a bubble font. Children roll dough and fill in.
Make something that is a noun. How can you make it plural?
Math
Make objects that match numbers.
Make a set and then decompose it.
Make lines, curves, and shapes.
Science and Social Studies
Reinforce information from a science or social studies unit with play dough. Children could make animals from a habitat, parts of a flower, tools of community helpers, healthy foods…endless possibilities!
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.
