Craftplay Plastic dough/potato people shapes - Pack of 52 face/body features - Make your own potato/dough person

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Here are our family’s play dough faces, mostly finished. See the play dough flower in the hair of the play dough person on the left? Maia came up with a special technique for making those with a garlic press. Talk about the body parts as you put them together. Preschool children will probably know the basics (eyes, nose, mouth, ears etc) but will be learning more complex words such as eyelashes, eyebrows etc so talk about these are they make their play dough face.

Then I invited my children to come see what I had set up. They immediately knew what to do and were very happy to get started. If you have different coloured play dough, model the language as you make the face(s) (“I’m making a green nose and yellow eyebrows”)Extend the emotions further by seeing if they can copy them – using a mirror can help your child to make the facial expression. While making faces on these play dough mats, young children will develop the following skills will develop their fine motor muscles while learning about the human body – more specifically, the face. Playdough mats are a great sensory activity for kids and can be a calming activity too. Kids who are sensory seekers will love using playdough, and for those kids with tactile defensiveness, a playdough mat could be a great way to encourage them to give playdough a try.

Our set of free printable emotions play dough mats includes 10 different play dough mats to use and re-use. When we are laughing, how do we feel? Talk about the things that make us laugh, and explore different ways of making a laughing face out of play dough, or making some silly funny faces. Scared Face Playdough Mat Using play dough is a great fine motor work out for toddlers, preschoolers and young school aged kids, as any teacher will tell you. Gross motor skills – using the larger muscles of the upper arm which are also important for fine motor development and writing.This understanding of individual likes and dislikes is a key moment, and allows children to understand things from someone else’s perspective. Sad Face Playdough Mat This is the snail from our beautiful bugs playdough mat set Benefits of Using Play Dough Mats with Your Kids If …. happened, how would you feel?” and bring up all kinds of examples. Wait and see what examples the children suggest too, even younger children can have all kinds of insightful experiences to share about their emotions!

What makes you feel scared, and what do you do when you feel scared? What helps you feel better again? The aim of our open-ended play dough mats is to spark a child’s interest and creativity, without totally directing their play. They are a starting point, designed to invite kids to play and explore. There are no right or wrong way to use these mats, so if Santa wears green shorts and the snail has wings, that’s totally ok! Let your kids be creative! They are full of blank faces, empty plates, bare gardens, and more, just waiting to be filled with anything you can imagine! Why would you choose an open-ended playdough mat?This tactile hands on learning is often a lot more effective than teaching with a standard worksheet with young children, and a whole lot of fun! Learning About Emotions Playdough Mats The goal is not for kids to make a perfect face, but rather, to learn about facial features, exercise creativity and imagination and develop fine motor skills. If your child is interested, you can also make the letters of the alphabet to spell out the names of each feeling written at the top of each playdoh mat. More Playdough Activities A couple of pots of Play dough – different colours if you have them but not essential. You can make this yourself or use shop bought play dough – we won’t judge!

Language and social skills – including talking about what they are making with other children and adults, sharing ideas, sharing items etc. My (just barely) 3-year-old was far more liberal with her face decorating. She just put clumps of play dough all over the mat. But we did discuss basic facial features such as eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and hair.

Garden and Growing Play Dough Mats

Once you and your child have constructed a face see if you can make it a ‘happy’ face or a ‘sad’ face or ‘angry’ face by changing the features. Playdough Mats are a fun way for kids to work with play dough at home or in the classroom, and bring in themes to their playdough exploration.