How we made our Play Dough Puzzle:
Before you create the play dough puzzle, make homemade playdough! Try a sensory recipe that smells great by adding cinnamon to your favorite playdough recipe or make this no cook gingerbread playdough recipe. Then, you are ready to make it into a fun puzzle.
Optional: You could cut small lengths (maybe an inch long) of ribbon and, while the play dough puzzle pieces are still moist, use a chop stick or butter knife to press in an end of the ribbon into each piece so that when the pieces dry they have a little handle.
This can be added using glue when the pieces are dry as well.
5) If desired, you can add some literacy to the experience: make traced cards with each object’s title to create a word-association extension activity.
- Cut construction paper into enough small rectangles so that each puzzle piece has its own card.
- On each rectangle, place one puzzle piece and trace around it.
- Below each tracing, label the item so your child is exposed to print and vocabulary as well. This homemade play dough puzzle matching game is a great learning activity to add in to our preschool at home curriculum.
6) Place the puzzle and word-cards on a level surface and play with your child. I started with the pieces on their respective word-cards so I could point to the word and say its name while my child picked up the piece to place it in the puzzle.
You can reverse the game as well and start with the pieces in the puzzle-it is a fine motor exercise for little fingers and bigger fingers alike to remove the pieces from the puzzle. Even the small cutout pieces and the word-cards are their own puzzle.
This is homemade fun for preschool or toddlers! If the homemade playdough puzzle falls and breaks it can be repaired with glue…or thrown away since it was free anyway. (More of an excuse to make another.)
What is your child’s favorite puzzle right now?
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My daughter saw me looking at this post and has already requested that we do this! Great idea! Thanks for sharing on #ToddlerFunFriday
That is the best comment I could read! Thanks for hosting the link up and for stopping over.
This is such a great idea! Totally doing this with my toddler! Thanks for linking up on Toddler Fun Friday!
Thanks so much for stopping by to check it out. It's a favorite with my kids when they are and were toddlers. 🙂
Great idea – I'm always throwing out home-made play dough. #ToddlerFunFriday
Thanks for stopping by! This activity definitely gives that "old" play dough a bit more life.
Wow..going to try this today..you have some interesting ideas to keep kids engaged..so nice to come across people like you..:-)
Thank you, Purnima! That is so sweet of you to say. I am glad you found this blog. Enjoy! 🙂
Awesome idea i did not even imagine that they would have so much fun with this. THANK YOU
Quinn, that is so nice to know! My kids amaze me with how much they like the simple activities, but it makes my job a little easier. 🙂 Glad your child enjoyed it too. Take care!
I love this activity! I never would have thought to do this, but it would be so fun. Thanks for the idea.
Thanks, Kirstylee! Have fun with it.