Create Play Dough Monsters

The other day, I decided to do this activity with J.  It was going to be simple.  A ball of homemade play dough, uncooked spaghetti, and cheerios.  That’s it.

Well…it started off simple enough.

It was a neat fine motor activity and it really held his attention for a while, until…

…he gave the play dough a face.  I saw an opportunity to enhance his play, so I took it.

I brought out the googly eyes, cut up straws and pom poms.  From there, the activity turned into…

He completely covered this ball of dough and asked for more.  He worked and worked and worked on his monsters. 

He took his monster building seriously and created the entire time I cooked dinner…it was great!

In the end, he had three spooky looking monsters that he was super proud of.

Let me just say, J is not the kind of kid that sits and creates very often.  The fact that he sat for so long creating with his play dough was refreshing.  Not only is this great for creativity, but fine motor skills too.

I love how this activity morphed into something else completely different than it started out.  Plus, I could cook dinner in peace .