We've read this book, The Little Island by Margaret Wise Brown many times, but finally did a little project along with it that went over really well! This book is an oldie, but very well written and illustrated. We actually own it too! We made our own "little island" out of map dough, cardboard, and natural materials.
You could use a piece of cardboard for the base/ water of the island. You could either paint the cardboard blue or cover it with blue paper. I happened to have a blue piece of matte board to build on which was perfect!
Now you can start building your island by taking the dough and pushing it down on to the cardboard. You could form other land formations like hills and mountains. Cassie wanted to build holes!!!
After you have your island formed, we used Cassie's nature collection of pine cones and rocks. We also added in shells and other odds and ends.
Cassie really enjoyed this part of adding all the natural elements. This island was getting quite overloaded! She was having fun though!
In the end Cassie added plastic insects and dinosaurs to her island too! This island inspired some imaginative play with adding Mom's old toy boat sailing around the island!!! Cassie had much enjoyment creating the island and playing with it too! It turned out better than I thought it would!
First we mixed up the recipe for Map Dough:
1/2 cup flour
1 cup salt
Water to moisten
Then we divided the dough into 3 separate balls to create 3 colors.
We used food colors (more or less to your likening)
You could use a piece of cardboard for the base/ water of the island. You could either paint the cardboard blue or cover it with blue paper. I happened to have a blue piece of matte board to build on which was perfect!
Now you can start building your island by taking the dough and pushing it down on to the cardboard. You could form other land formations like hills and mountains. Cassie wanted to build holes!!!
After you have your island formed, we used Cassie's nature collection of pine cones and rocks. We also added in shells and other odds and ends.
Cassie really enjoyed this part of adding all the natural elements. This island was getting quite overloaded! She was having fun though!
Here is Cassie's mostly finished island with some plastic glass elements added in.
In the end Cassie added plastic insects and dinosaurs to her island too! This island inspired some imaginative play with adding Mom's old toy boat sailing around the island!!! Cassie had much enjoyment creating the island and playing with it too! It turned out better than I thought it would!
Has any of your children's art inspired imaginative play???
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I love home made playdough! Yours came out wonderfully beautiful!!! And great to play see side with it!
ReplyDeleteThank you for linking up to Kids Get Crafty again!
Maggy
Making an island! So much fun, I love all the natural elements :)
ReplyDeleteLove the colorful island !! And yay for imaginative play.. it amazes me to see how these little minds work:)
ReplyDeleteI love reading a book and then doing an activity/craft to go with it. So much fun!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a nice post. I remember my son loving to play with various art projects, and he would use them until they were pretty well worn out.
ReplyDeleteI think Cassie may enjoy this for some time.
I love Margaret Wise Brown's stories, and haven't read this one, will have to look for it.
Brenda
You always have such wonderful ideas!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful activity to complement the book. I haven't seen that book before but I'm sure a visit to the library and I'd find a whole heap on islands.
ReplyDeleteYour map is such fun! How wonderful to be able to create a display of a great book!
ReplyDeleteI love the island and the older Fisher Price toys you have, wish they still made those.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about this book, and I'm adding it to our library list! I love the book tie-in, and how invested Cassie is in the project (as usual!!). So what's map dough all about? Does it dry hard?
ReplyDeleteHome made dough is the best and it looks like your daughter had a great time playing with it! Thanks so much for joining us on Fun for Kids Friday : )
ReplyDeleteI just got this book at a yardsale this weekend! Ours, however, says it's by "Golden MacDonald". I guess that was Margaret Wise Brown's Pen name. Great project, we'll have to try it out.
ReplyDeleteI love Margaret Wise Brown. I need to check that book out. I have never heard of it. Thanks for sharing at my link party
ReplyDelete