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Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Play Dough (Play Doh) Snails

On Easter we were at Grandfather's house and he always has a ready supply of Art supplies on hand: crayons, paper, markers , glue, scissors, and play dough (Play Doh)!! No, we did not make play dough... we just enjoyed playing with it, smelling it, and tasting it! (I always catch my daughter eating it---good thing it is non-toxic!)  Next time we'll need to make some edible homemade play dough! We ended up making a whole family of snails!!!  Most kids Love making SNAKES and this is a great activity to follow up with after making a zillion snakes.


To create snails we started out by making a snake or coil which Cassie has become quite good at!


Next we simply shaped our snakes into spirals. Start at one end and slowly pinch the rest of the snake around it and squeeze around it to keep it together. This took a little skill...but she got the hang of it!


Leave a little end of the spiral out for the head and smash it down so it will stand up.  Lastly, add some eyes and a mouth.


Cassie really enjoyed this simply and sweet activity!  It is always fun to make a large quantity of anything! Love the winking pic! This girl is proud of all the snails we made!


This snail activity goes well with a book about a snail we have read: The Biggest House in the World by Leo Lionni. Also, the past year we have been collecting snails whenever we go to the pond near our house!  We do put the snails back! I'm sure we'll be making more snails during our next play dough session! Making snails is a great skill to be able to practice and to apply that knowledge to eventually create a coil pot!


WHAT FAVORITE THINGS DO YOUR CHILDREN CREATE OUT OF PLAY DOUGH???
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18 comments:

  1. AleaciaApril 26, 2011 at 11:36 AM

    Charlotte loves making snakes and snails with Play Doh, she carries them around in her hand telling people to pet them, lol
    I love your herd of multicolored snails :)
    And I adore Leo Lionni!!

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  2. RoopaApril 26, 2011 at 11:43 AM

    Love all the colorful snails:) As Aleacia said above, putti loves making snakes and tells us 'dont be scared, its okay to touch them' lolz

    You can make flowers too, just place the spirals flat on the table and add a green coil as stalk, easy peasy.. reminds me i need to share ours!

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  3. EmmyApril 26, 2011 at 12:25 PM

    Love this.

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  4. phasejumperApril 26, 2011 at 2:32 PM

    Love the playdough/book fun, (but don't like snails in real life *shudder*)!

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  5. Natalie PlanetSmartyApril 26, 2011 at 5:49 PM

    This is fun. My daughter (I believe she is about the same age as Cassie) loves to make gingerbread people and decorate them.

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  6. Mullin Avenue WorkshopApril 26, 2011 at 9:38 PM

    Melissa,
    This grandfather is one smart man! So great that when Cassie goes to visit he makes sure she has lots of creative materials. She'll probably remember her visits with much fondness, and as well look forward to going to Grandpa's and making art. It shows the value he places both on Cassie and on creativity.

    These snails are very nice, and great colours.

    I have been showing my children rolling, etc. for playdoh as this is a good skill, it's good of course for fine motor development, but also is part of teaching some new skills other than rolling the dough and cutting with cookie cutters. I've always enjoyed making ladybugs, and adding small dots of playdoh, I think my children enjoy that. As well, one fun thing to do is to use a garlic press and make playdoh strings to create a small nest, and then small playdoh eggs to place inside.

    I love the picture of Cassie winking - cute. :)
    Brenda

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  7. Mullin Avenue WorkshopApril 26, 2011 at 9:41 PM

    P. S. Just wanted to say I also love the books of Lioni, especially his Frederick ones. :)
    Brenda

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  8. JaneApril 27, 2011 at 6:48 AM

    Melissa, what a fab blog you have and how very nice to 'meet' you! When I saw your blog title I had to hop on over and visit you! Lots of ideas here my girl! Well, of course I followed your blog and I shall be back to visit again - I'm off to check out all the blogs on your blog roll! Jane http://louandjane.blogspot.com/

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  9. andiejayeApril 27, 2011 at 10:56 AM

    what a fun idea! my Little Man isn't quite old enough for this yet. when he does, we may have to try this out...maybe with some googly eyes and pipe cleaner antenna :) and i LOVE the winking pic too!!!

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  10. Lee GoodApril 27, 2011 at 9:31 PM

    i love this grandfather! we all need a grandfather like this

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  11. jenny @ let the children playApril 29, 2011 at 9:23 AM

    Yay Grandfather! I bet your little one will remember visits to his house for years to come. Its funny - just today I had one of our little fellows at preschool very carefully showing his friend how to make snails from clay. They ended up with a whole table full - not as colourful as yours but just as special.

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  12. LauraApril 29, 2011 at 9:41 AM

    So awesome that you find books to go along with your art! I love that. I like her wink in one of the pictures. What a cutie. Thanks for sharing at art for little hands!

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  13. RSApril 29, 2011 at 12:59 PM

    Love all the colorful snails:) Thanks for sharing ...She is very cute...Love her winking pic...

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  14. RedTedArtMay 1, 2011 at 2:01 PM

    Oooh how lovely!! Looks like you had lots of fun and isn't the last photo simply too adorable!??

    Don't forget Kids Get Crafty! http://www.redtedart.com/2011/04/27/kids-get-crafty-sand-art-crafts/

    Would love to see you there as always!

    Maggy

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  15. RedTedArtMay 2, 2011 at 11:33 AM

    Thank you :-)))) and sorry for "bugging" you!! x

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  16. huanaMay 3, 2011 at 9:55 AM

    Snakes and snails,our first play dough creatures :-)

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  17. cathy @ NurtureStoreMay 4, 2011 at 1:26 PM

    I love the wink picture too. My girls are all about 'under the sea' play dough creations at the moment.

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  18. UnknownMay 6, 2011 at 1:41 AM

    Love the snails! We do them when playing with play doh too! Simple and fun!

    Featuring this post over at High paw! Thanks for joining and see you this week too! :)

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