This was another 'accidental' activity; Jake was digging in the kitchen cupboard and found the colourful cupcake cases and wanted to play with them. I wasn't super keen on him just ripping up the paper (which is probably what would happen if he was just given the cases alone) so I had a lightbulb moment (love those!) and got out the playdough, birthday candles and some foil cake tins. It was a hit! Jake loves pretending to play with cakes (blocks) and sweets (threading beads) so getting to actively make and decorate the "birthday cupcakes" was brilliant to him! 
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| Moulding playdough into little cupcakes |
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| "Lovely birthday cupcakes for us all to share" - Jake |
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| We 'ate' them all up and 'baked' some more |
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| Such concentration.. |
This was a great activity, it incorporated all the good stuff about playdough play (dexterity, fine motor skills, creativity, object manipulation, shape recognition, etc) and encouraged lots of imaginative play, which is great for developing social skills (sharing, making things for others, giving and receiving, saying please and thank you), spacial awareness, self-expression and much more. This activity is also good for pre-maths skills - dividing the dough into sections, adding '1' candle to each cake, Most of all it was just lots of fun!
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We need to do this at our house. Love your point that it builds pre-math skills, too!
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting MaryAnne - I didn't even think about the pre-math skills until I was writing up the post, and I guess its true for any playdough play really.
DeleteAhhh, this is one of our favorite activities to do!! I loved seeing your son totally engrossed in play!
ReplyDeleteHe does get completely engrossed; its lovely to see. :-)
DeleteWhat a great idea!! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday! I hope you have a fabulous weekend!
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming to read, and for your comment Carrie. :)
DeleteJust want to let you know that I am featuring this at Sharing Saturday this week. Thanks again for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteAw, how exciting! Thanks so much Carrie!
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