The Power of Playdough

Playdough is one of the very best materials in an early childhood classroom.  In the Bunny Rabbit class we have it available almost every single day, and children flock to it.

 

Playdough allows little hands to squeeze, manipulate, press, pinch, roll and pull which develops hand strength and fine motor control.

Playdough is a very forgiving substance so it's a great medium for practicing and refining motor skills such cutting with scissors.

It is also a great catalyst for social interaction.  Children can work side by side and natural curiosity gets them taking about what they are making.

Playdough is very easy to make at home and homemade playdough lasts much longer than store-bought playdough AND if you make it at home you can even scent it with cinnamon or vanilla or coffee or spices.  Ask me for our SLC recipe if you want to give it a go at home.

Bread Bread Bread

We stretched our learning of the Little Red Hen to learning about breads around the world.  There is a book called Bread Bread Bread by Ann Morris which depicts bread in many cultures around the world, and it was the jumping off place for this kind of learning.

Mrs. Quinn and the Bunnies made pancakes (multiple batches!).

Everybody loved them!

We had a two person game called Cookin' Cookies in which the players try to collect the ingredients on their recipe cards and we also had a memory game for matching a variety of breads such as baguette, bagel, naan, etc.

There was a game for matching muffin tops with different amounts of blueberries to their corresponding muffin cup.

We had a pizza fraction game on the floor.  Aren't fractions too advanced for preschoolers? NOPE!  They can easily compare size and determine if a certain sized slice will fit in their pizza or not. 

As a literacy activity the children made their own playdough baked goods and dictated a description of them.

We also had a taste test with three types of bread - naan, challah and corn tortillas.  The children bravely tried them all and then we graphed the results.  In dramatic play, the children acted out the story of Jesus feeding his followers with loaves and fish.

Over the course of a few days, we infused bread into every activity and every domain of the curriculum.  The Bunnies had so much fun and really internalized the concepts.  We heard them using new vocabulary, reminding each other to work as a team and retelling the story of the Little Red Hen.  I hope someone in the next class of Bunnies is into food so we can do this all again next year!  Yum!

The Little Red Hen

We have one Bunny who LOVES food.  He makes food at the playdough table almost every day.  He doesn't make ordinary food like muffins and cookies.  No, this guy makes carnitas and spicy tacos and tamales!  He is the most talkative when food is the topic of conversation, so we decided to spend a few weeks talking about food - specifically bread.

Most of the Bunnies were unfamiliar with the story of the Little Red Hen.  It was so fascinating to watch their reactions to this folk tale.  Someone even said the Little Red Hen was mean for not sharing.  Believe me, we took every opportunity we could to talk about the power of cooperation and teamwork with an emphasis on work.  It wasn't long before the Bunnies could understand the hen's point of view!

We had flour, herbs and utensils in the sensory table and it smelled fantastic!  Most of the herbs came right from our school garden.  I brought in my bread machine and the children each had the opportunity to help make the bread.  After talking about the story for a few days, you can imagine that each child was super eager to pitch in!  They made darling paper plate hens and they had their own bakery for dramatic play.  We had puzzles and story sequencing activities and puppets, too.  It was great fun!