reggio inspired playdough exploration

We have been enjoying child led playdough exploration around here lately.  Mirrors, objects from nature, and small parts can make play dough an inviting time of open ended learning and creation for little ones.

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We shared 5 ways to make letters using playdough, and now we wanted to share our play time!!  I set out our playdough, along with leaves, lavender, rocks, craft sticks, tiny colorful pony beads.  And I let my children play on the floor, on our large wood board, next to the mirror in their Reggio-inspired play space.  My son was ecstatic — “I can play with it on the floor?!”  I don’t know why I hadn’t thought about this before — that he never really enjoyed playing with play dough.  Well, I had been confining his play to the kitchen table.  And who wants to sit in the place they have to sit during meal times?

Simple change the location of play and add inviting objects to play with — namely, don’t tell him he has to “make” anything — and he is a whole new boy!  He loves playdough now, and has been excelling with his imagination, mathematics learning, and spatial awareness. There was a quick time of sibling collaboration, which I love and encourage.  Allowing the children to guide their learning and play time has really been wonderful for John and May’s relationship.Next, we took the playdough play time outside.  I set up two tiles, so each child had their own space.  I also set out little craft sticks, straws, little Schleich animals, little paper flowers, rocks, and flowers cut from the garden.John loved tearing apart the playdough, so I showed him how to create shapes.May played with the animals — and she began feeding her little bunny! Creating shapes with tiny balls of playdough and the mini straws, cut to different sizes. John began cutting the playdough with his craft sticks and discovered that he’d made an alligator!  Here is the alligator chomping on a stick. Making playdough snakes.A little playdough sculpture by May.  She will often play for over an hour!

We have loved this time of creating in our home.  The children are challenged to use their imaginations when given open-ended learning and play opportunities.  Check out more of our Reggio Emilia inspired posts :

• Reggio-inspired art
• Reggio-inspired playroom
• Reggio-inspired nature table
• Reggio-inspired preschool math
• Reggio-inspired learning with shapes

You can follow my Reggio Emilia Pinterest Board for more inspiration :

Follow Amy @ Wildflower Ramblings’s board Reggio-Inspired on Pinterest.