Day 168: play pretend with playdough

We have been doing a lot of  pretend play around here lately.  First with our fort building, then with puppets, and today with a book and playdough.

First we read one of our favorite winter books by Carl Sams "Stranger in the Woods" then we made a winter scene all our own.

Sam made the snake and the ground covered in snow.  She also helped with the arms on the snow man.  Eventually we made other snowmen and several other deer (yes, that thing standing on the toothpicks is a deer...you can see that, right?). The little blob next to the deer is a rabbit.

Anyway, we made a bunch of animals and then made a little woods with small sticks of evergreen from our yard.  Then we acted out the book and all the animals. Sam loved it! She wanted to keep it all up and going all day but I had to convince her otherwise so that the playdough wouldn't completely dry out; I had to promise that we could make it all again tomorrow!

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The Nitty Gritty!

We have done nature themed playdough before but this was the first time we have really made specific things out of the dough in order to create a story. She is really getting into pretend play lately and loving all the new ways of pretending that I am coming up with.

When you can't go outside using pretend play and stories can be a great way to keep kids interested in nature. Our pretend play is always filled with me sharing information about plants or animals, proposing real life situations that the animals might be in or asking Sam questions about what the animals might be doing. At Sam's age it does not take much knowledge of nature to keep her interested and learning; simple things like where animals would find food, water and shelter are new ideas for her and great concepts to include in pretend play.

Comments

[gina]

I love this. I have Play-Doh in my classroom and the kids always want to use it but I am never sure how to make it into a language activity. Now I know! Thanks!

[Angela]

Oh my gosh, I love it!

[Debi]

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that my youngest (2.5) has never played with Play-Doh! You've inspired me to get him some as a stocking stuff -- this activity is a great way to bring the outdoors in.

[welcome to our wonderland]

i love nature themed playdough idea we love making footprints with their toys in the playdough