How Fun is Play Dough??!!

 

I know many of you have probably been using play dough in centers for a long time, but it's new to me!  If you remember, last year was my first year in Kindergarten so many things are still new to me!  I did use play dough occasionally last year--pumpkin play dough for fall, peppermint play dough at Christmas time--but this year I plan to use it a whole lot!  It's going to be a Word Work activity during my Daily 5 time and used frequently in math centers. 

 

Since we are still training for Daily 5 and building up our stamina, I decided to break out the play dough today and use it as a whole class.  Friends, it was like magic!  My class has been pretty chatty so far and also has a tendency to be grabby and less than willing to share so I was quite certain that someone (or lots of someones!) would grab the container and hoard ALL the play dough for their table.  Nope.  They each broke off a piece and even had some to spare after each friend had some!  Then, the best part--they all played with it quietly!  Yep, I almost let them play with it ALL day!  It was about as quiet as they had all been in all our 11 days of school! I'm pretty sure I heard angels singing . . .

 

Here's the break down.  I asked some parents to volunteer to make play dough which they did.  I also made a few batches and I found the best recipe that I must share with you all.  Maybe you use this one already, but it was new to me. 

 

See that part where it says "less than 10 minutes?"  Too good to be true, right?  WRONG!!  I made three batches in 20 minutes!  I think I will double the recipe next time, though.  It doesn't make a large amount.  You can find the recipe HERE.

 

I used neon food coloring because I'm slightly obsessed with neon right now (and I couldn't figure out how to make chevron!)

 

And, seriously, in less than 30 minutes I had this!  Aren't the colors fabulous??

 

First we had to have time to just explore and play, of course!

Then we got to work making letters! 

 

I'm using these awesome resources from my blogging buddy, Stephanie, over at Primary Possibilities.  Right now we are just using the letters, but we will be incorporating sight words and their names into the mix soon. 

 

And I can't wait to introduce these math activities for my math centers!

 

 

I'm pretty sure these play dough activities are going to be a favorite of this group--and me, too!!