Easily Create a Snowman Playdough Tray for Preschool

Setting up a snowman playdough tray is a quick & easy way to keep your preschooler busy & learning. Keep reading to find out how to create one for your little one today.

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Keeping your little ones occupied while you homeschool your older kids, work from home, or tend to household chores can be tough.

It’s especially challenging in the winter when you can’t go outside as easily if you live in a colder climate.

Luckily you can create a fun and engaging snowman playdough tray in half an hour or less!

Why Set Up an Invitation to Play?

Have you heard about an invitation to play before? This is likely something you’ve done before, but you might not have realized it had a name.

An invitation to play is simply setting out an activity for your child that will pique interest and encourage play. This could be setting out a game or puzzle, putting a sensory bin open on the table, or setting up a playdough tray.

Why Create a Snowman Playdough Tray

Playdough trays are great sensory experiences for little ones. Preschoolers learn best through play and also by using their senses. Playdough trays cover both of those types of learning.

Benefits of Sensory Play

By using sensory activities such as playdough trays, preschoolers will develop fine motor skills. Fine motor development is important for good hand control when writing, cutting, and other activities using the small hand muscles.

Playdough is especially wonderful for strengthening hand muscles because it is so pliable, plus it’s so much fun to use! It’s also very inexpensive, or you could even make playdough at home. Children can use playdough to roll out letters or numbers, for counting, or just for open-ended play.

How to Create a Snowman Playdough Tray

Creating a snowman-themed playdough tray is easy and uses materials you may already have at home. This open-ended activity is sure to be a hit with your little one. It’s perfect to do when it’s too cold to go outside and make a snowman, or if you live where you don’t get snow.

Materials Needed

You don’t have to use the exact materials I list below. Instead use these supplies as a guide to inspire your snowman playdough tray based on what you have at home.

• White playdough (purchased or make your own with the recipe below)
• Sticks (either from your yard or fake ones found in a craft store)
• Small craft sticks/popsicle sticks
• Buttons, gems, and/or beads
• Pipe cleaners
• Scrap pieces of fabric

The divided trays often used as vegetable trays work great as playdough trays. If there’s a center circle, you can place the playdough in it with the additional materials scattered in the divided sections around it. If there’s no center circle, then use one of the divided sections for the playdough. I got mine pictured above at the dollar store.

Additionally, you can place playdough on a tray and put the additional materials in small plastic cups or just at the top of the tray. The goal here is to set up an inviting play space to entice your children to play with it.

After play is done, the pieces can be placed back the way they were. Put the playdough in an airtight container and you’re ready for future play. I like to place items on shelves in our homeschool room so my preschoolers can grab them without help.

Tips for Using Playdough Invitations to Play

1. Remember that invitations to play should be just that. You really don’t need to have expectations for how your preschoolers can use the materials. That’s part of the fun of it; your child building creativity and creating on their own.

2. Ask questions while your child is playing to help develop language skills. Ask your child why they are using the materials that way or what they plan to do next.

3. Have your child put (or help put) the materials back into their original places. This helps your child with sorting skills, plus cleaning up after oneself is a great skill to develop as well. This also helps you save time, which can be better spent homeschooling older children.

Homemade Playdough Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup salt
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon oil
• food coloring (optional)

Mix the above ingredients minus food coloring in a saucepan over medium heat and stir continuously. Once it comes together, put it on a smooth surface and knead. Add food coloring, if desired, when still warm. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy a free printable recipe along with uppercase alphabet playdough mats when you join my email community.

Additional Snowman Activities

In the winter, snowman and other snow-related activities are perfect themes for preschool. Here are some additional ideas to continue the fun.

• Do a snow nature study and learn about how snowflakes are formed.
• Set up some winter sensory bins for more indoor fun.
• Paint a snowman with this free chalk pastel lesson.
• Add winter music and more to your preschooler’s day with this Four Season’s Curriculum. Use the code CHRISTY for 20% off.
• If you have snow outside, go out and build a snowman with snow.
• Build math and literacy skills with snowman-themed task cards. Simply print, cut apart, and add in clothespins for an easy activity your child can do independently.

As you can see, it doesn’t take long to set up a fun and educational learning activity for your preschooler. By combining playdough with materials you probably already have at home, you can create a fun snowman playdough tray that will encourage your little one to show creativity and imagination while developing fine motor skills. Go set one up today!