Play dough invitations are always embraced around here. We’ve shared tons of play dough ideas over the years, but my kids still get excited each time they see a new play dough activity waiting for them. Whether you’re diving into a tree theme, learning about the seasons, or looking for a fun spring activity, this spring tree play dough invitation is a great option.
FIND EVEN MORE SPRING THEME ACTIVITIES IN OUR PRINTABLE SPRING LESSON PLANS.
Materials
- Green and brown play dough-Make your own with wilton icing colors, or use storebought dough.
- Small twigs
- Small pinecones-Collect them from your neighborhood or grab a set at the local craft store.
- Small flower buds and seed pods-We found small bags of spring sets in the floral section of our craft store. After we trimmed the ends off of them we were good to go. Save them to use for all sorts of spring learning activities, too!
- Divided Tray (optional)-Ours is from Walmart. Similar options are available at Dollar Tree, and we love this one on Amazon too.
Time to Play with the Spring Tree Play Dough Invitation
Watch the video below to see how we made our spring play dough trees, or read the full tutorial below.
I mentioned the beautiful trees that have been blooming in our area in our recent spring tree art project. Those trees and that project gave the kids some wonderful background knowledge to think about as they jumped into this play dough invitation.
First my youngest created the tree trunk. I loved seeing that she decided to use a twig to add some texture to the dough and make it look more like real tree bark.
As always, I love watching how kids approach these tasks…it’s almost always a bit different than I envision when I put the materials together. For this activity I thought she would lay out the twigs and then add green “leaves” to them, but as you can see below she made big puffy bunches of leaves and filled out the tree first. She didn’t really focus on the branches. And that’s okay. I actually think her creation turned out even better than my vision!
Next it was time to decorate the tree with all those spring blossoms. This is an added chance for fine motor practice!
When my daughter was almost done she declared that the tree needed something else, and she headed out doors to grab some bits of grass. After adding the grass and a few fallen flowers she declared her masterpiece to be complete.
I always like to leave these play dough invitation out for an extended period of time. Most often the kids circle back to create more with them, and usually the interact with the materials a bit differently.
That was exactly the case with this spring tree play dough invitation. Her second creation took on more of a three dimensional look as you can see below. She had to do quite a bit of troubleshooting to get that heavy play dough tree to stand up just right.
Continue the spring tree math fun with this free printable math game.
MORE SPRING FUN WITH PRINTABLE SPRING THEME LESSON PLANS
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.
Watch this short video to see just a few examples of the types of activities and printables included in this set:
GET YOUR LESSON PLANS
Preschool Spring Theme Lesson Plans
Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.
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