Now here is an activity that our children loved. Construction with play-dough and toothpicks. We used manufactured play-dough for this activity as we found that the ‘home-made’ variety was too soft and tended to collapse as structures grew in size. Just thinking, I bet ‘plasticine’ would be even better!
The process of coming up with a successful structure involved:
- The development of fine motor skills (eg. breaking off and rolling small balls of dough between palms and carefully connecting the toothpicks)
- Measurement (eg. keeping some consistency in the size and weight of the balls)
- Experimentation (eg. determining the most effective size and weight for the balls)
- Motor-planning (eg. organizing a mental plan of action)
- Using logical-mathematical problem solving techniques (eg. employing geometry concepts)
This final piece of work, was completed by a little boy who is often quick to loose patience and become quite emotional if things don’t go to plan for him. I sat quietly beside him as he worked on his project and offered some gentle encouragement when I could see some impatience creeping into his demeanor. When he was struggling and verbalized his concerns, I provided some suggestions to assist him mentally ‘jump a hurdle‘ and start to think things through to another level (scaffolding). He was able to feel a sense of ownership of the process as it WAS entirely his work. I believe the sense of pride that he clearly displayed when he finally announce that he was finished, was far more about the ‘process’ than the ‘product’. He KNEW that he had persevered, problem-solved and maintained self-control until he was satisfied with what he had done. He walked away from THIS table, a very proud little man.
love this idea so much – it just somehow appeals to me. In over 20 years in early childhood I have never seen it before and will definately be using it with the 4 year olds and will be interested to see what younger ones are interested. Thanks Karen
No problem Lesley. I have stumbled upon this idea a couple of times when ‘blog surfing’ but can’t remember where. I hope the children enjoy! 🙂
Love this idea! I’ll bet my group of “builders” would really like doing this. Thanks!
No problem Scott! Was a great experience for the children! They loved taking them home! 🙂
I have used this idea in my Montessori classroom and the kids always loved it. Instead of using play-doh, I would use peas! Buy a bag of dried whole peas and soak them in water overnight. The toothpicks stay in the soft peas and when left on the windowsill–the 3d shape dries and can be taken home.
Lots of great opportunity to introduce the geometric terminology……cube, rectangular prism, triangular pyramid and they can make all the polygons too……trapezoid was a always a favorite!!
Sooo cute! We have done this with our students using slightly stale marshmallows.
Great idea Wendy! Thank you! 🙂
Brilliant! I know what we’ll be doing tomorrow now! Thank you
[…] Playdough with Toothpicks – Flights of Whimsy Practice measurement, geometry, planning, and fine-motor control when rolling little balls of playdough to use with toothpicks! […]