Learning and Teaching with Preschoolers Blog

Exploring Zoo Animals with Preschool Play Dough Trays

5/14/2024

Play dough is a versatile and beloved material in preschool classrooms, providing endless opportunities for creativity and learning. Integrating loose parts into play dough activities enhances the sensory experience and stimulates imaginative play. This blog post will guide you through setting up a zoo-themed play dough tray using loose parts, perfect for preschoolers to explore the world of animals.

Benefits of Play Dough Activities
Before diving into the zoo theme, let’s highlight some benefits of play dough activities:

Fine Motor Skills: Manipulating play dough strengthens hand muscles and improves dexterity.
Creativity and Imagination: Children create their own animals and habitats, fostering creativity.
Sensory Development: The texture of play dough and various loose parts provide rich sensory experiences.
Language Development: Discussing their creations helps children expand their vocabulary and storytelling skills.

Setting Up the Zoo-Themed Play Dough Tray
Materials Needed:

Play Dough: Choose different colors to represent various parts of the zoo (e.g., green for grass, blue for water).
Loose Parts: Collect a variety of small, safe items such as:
- Natural Elements: Pebbles, sticks, leaves, small pinecones
- Craft Supplies: Craft stick fences
- Miniature Animals: Small plastic zoo animals like lions, elephants, and monkeys

Step-by-Step Setup:

Prepare the Play Dough: Either use store-bought play dough or make your own at home. Consider making different colors to represent different parts of the zoo. You can find simple recipes online that require only a few ingredients.
Organize Loose Parts: Arrange the loose parts in small bowls or compartments on a tray. Ensure that all items are easily accessible to the children.
Create the Zoo Base: Roll out a large piece of play dough on a tray or table to serve as the base. Encourage children to mold and shape the play dough to create different habitats (e.g., hills, ponds).
Introduce the Animals: Place the miniature animals on the tray. Let the children decide where each animal should go, prompting them to think about the animals’ natural habitats.
Add Loose Parts: Allow the children to use the loose parts to enhance their zoo scenes. For instance, they can use pebbles to create pathways, sticks for trees, and feathers for birds.
Encourage Storytelling: Ask the children to tell stories about their zoo. Who are the animals? What are they doing? This activity not only boosts their imagination but also their language skills.

A zoo-themed play dough tray with loose parts offers a rich, multi-sensory experience that promotes fine motor skills, creativity, and language development in preschoolers. This engaging activity allows children to explore the animal kingdom in a hands-on and imaginative way. By setting up a zoo play dough tray, you’re providing a fun and educational experience that young learners will love.

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Red Day Activities for Preschool

8/20/2023

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Here are some red day activities for preschool that are hands-on learning exercises to teach the color RED.

If you would rather watch how I put together our red day activities, you can do it HERE.

RED Preschool Journal Prompts

Arrival time can be hectic in a pre-k classroom! That's why I started morning journals using preschool journal prompts with my pre-k students. It’s a way for everyone to get into the groove of the day while having time to greet and talk with one another as they work on meaningful pre-writing skills activities.

Story Time

Brown Bear, Brown Bear is the perfect story to add to the red day activities for preschool. Children always enjoy the beloved story and with storytelling props children will stay engaged during the read aloud.

Recap the story will a color pocket chart story that the children will be able to read on their own.

RED Choice Time Activities

RED Collage with red objects.

Find red clear objects to place on the light table so that children can experiment with the color red.

RED painting. Provide children with different shades of red to create a red painting with.

Turn those red paintings into a redbird art project. These redbirds can be turned into a page of a child made brown bear, brown bear color book.

Small Group Activities

My red-letter collage is a great way to observe children's knowledge of letters. Can they identify some or all of the letters in their name.

RED fingerprint counting is another way to be able to observe children counting and identify numbers.

To finish off the week have children color their own My Color Red Book that they can take home and read to a family member.

Join the LTWP Membership to grab printable activities that can be used in your classroom or at home with your preschooler.

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Playdough Activities for Preschool

9/11/2022

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Playdough is one of the preferred activities for a preschooler and teachers like playdough activities for fine motor skills. The key to getting children actively engaged in activities is to provide learning and play together for the win.

Creating a variety of preschool playdough activities allow children to practice their skills in a fun way. Below you will find 12 different playdough activities for preschoolers that you can use throughout the year.

Setting Up A Playdough Routine

When setting up playdough activities for preschoolers always start with teaching children about the expectation and routine for using playdough in the classroom.

Wash hands
Get playdough mat or tray
Keep playdough on table
Share
Put lids on tight
Clean up

Learning to Use Playdough Tools

Provide children with different types of tools to use with the playdough. Children will develop their small muscles in their fingers and hands as they manipulate the playdough with the tools. Through these manipulations children will also develop their eye-hand coordination with the ability to match hand movement with eye movement. Children will gain strength and improve dexterity in their hands and fingers which is critical for children to learn to write and draw.

List of tools

Rollers
Plastic knives
Mini tortilla
Garlic Press
Citrus press
Wheel cutters
Cookie cutters
Scissors

Playdough Beginning Skills

Children can learn how to use simple rolling techniques to form different things with playdough. All you need to do is provide children with beginning skill cards so that they can learn to form lines, balls, zig zags and spirals.

Playdough Shapes

Bring out containers of playdough to get children talking about the differences between shapes. Children will begin to notice the differences as they roll out long lines to form different shapes.

Playdough Emotions

It’s important for preschool children to learn how to label and learn about their emotions, playdough mats with emotional cards are the perfect way to get your children laughing and talking about their feelings.

Playdough Picture Building

To get children to build different things with playdough provide them with picture building cards to help them discover that they can make different objects with the playdough.

Playdough is a great learning tool for children to learn about math concepts.

Playdough Numbers

Children love to count things and playdough is no different, with these playdough number cards children will be able to learn to form numbers and count out amounts.

Playdough 10 Frame Counting

Step up the number game with 10 frame mats. Children can identify numbers and make that amount on the 10 frame mats.

Playdough Roll Count & Write

Roll count and write mats have always been one of my go to activities to do with my preschoolers, but I have to say that the playdough roll count and write is my favorite because children have to make their own balls of playdough to count. Which I feel is a lot more enjoyable for them to do.

Playdough Patterns

With playdough you will only need a few things to set up an engaging activity for your preschoolers to practice and extend patterns.

Playdough Measurement

How long can you make your playdough snake? Children will be fascinated to see how long they can make a playdough snake without breaking it. After they have rolled out their snake, they can measure it using counters or a simple inchworm ruler.

Playdough Letter Formation