Who doesn’t currently have a house full of Frozen obsessed fans at the moment? I know I do and that includes myself too not just my daughter! As Little Miss Toddler shows more and more of her interests, I want to capitalize on them and use them for learning and fine motor activities. As her Frozen obsession continues to grow, I knew I wanted to set up a little playdough invitation for her.
I used a very simple playdough recipe to create our homemade playdough:
1 1/2 cup of flour
1/2 cup of salt
2 tsp Cream of Tartar
2 Tbsp of vegetable oil
1 C boiling water
A few drops of blue food coloring
Once the playdough cooled, I used our chip platter to organize a few different Frozen figurines and loose parts to complete the Frozen small world and playdough invitiation. My favorite figurines for sensory play and playdough invitations comes from our busy books. The Frozen figurines that I have set up for this play are from the original Frozen Busy Book but if you click on the image below you can purchase the Frozen 2 version for similar play! (affiliate link)
I also set up small brush trees that I purchased from the Target dollar spot, blue and white stones that I purchases from Hobby Lobby, popsicle sticks to build our castles and mountains with, and some blue playdough tools to keep the Frozen theme going.
Once you set up a playdough tray, it can be very tempting to introduce it to your toddler and let them go to town. However, if your toddler is anything like mine it is so important to TEACH them how to play with playdough. My daughter would originally just poke it a few times and walk away. I would get frustrated and had to realize that if I didn’t show her how to play with it, she never would know. The first thing that has helped Little Miss Toddler play more with playdough invitations is to give her an extra surface to work on like a cookie sheet. Since showing her to put the playdough onto a baking sheet her play has expanded! We built the Frozen castle and created a bridge for the trolls to walk over and see all of their friends.
With this Frozen playdough invitation or any other invitation to play that you set up for your littles make sure you set your expectations clearly by modeling play for them first and then letting them expand on it with their own imaginations! For children 3 and younger, I recommend full adult supervision so that they don’t put anything into their mouths. So long story short, roll up your sleeves and get in there with them! Whether it’s playdough or other kind of play invitations!
Do you need more play based learning activities for the winter? I have created a full resource guide of different activities and resources to keep your little ones engaged in a meaningful way with my January Learn and Play Activity and Guide! You can see more of it in my TpT store here!
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