My plan
Fun Littles

Fun and easy kids activities

Playdough Garden

Aug 1, 20166,059 views
Play Doh
How to make playdough garden Save
Colorful garden Save
colorful play doh garden Save
Bunny in a meadow Save
Garden Play-doh Save

by TurkeyMom in Play Doh

Ages2–6 yrs
Prep15 min
Activity30 min
Leveleasy
MessLow
Works for1:1 · Small group · Class

Roll out brightly colored play dough into meadows and ponds, press in fresh flowers from your yard, and add little toy animals for an open-ended pretend garden. It needs only three things and no planning.

⚠️ Safety first

  • Adult checks that the picked flowers and plants are non-toxic before toddlers handle them. Some garden plants are harmful if mouthed.
  • Small toy animals and bugs can be a choking hazard. Supervise closely with babies and toddlers.
  • Play dough isn't food. Watch little ones who still mouth things, and wash hands after play.
  • Most store-bought play dough contains wheat. Check the label if any child has a wheat or gluten allergy.

Before the kids arrive

  • Gather flowers from your yard or garden, and check they are safe for little hands.
  • Pull together the kids' favorite little play animals and bugs.

Steps

  1. Pick a big flat spot to play, like a table or a wide window sill.

  2. Roll the play dough flat with the roller.

  3. Make the green play dough into a meadow and the blue play dough into a pond.

  4. Press the flowers into the play dough, and stand the tall stems up as trees in a forest.

  5. Add the animals and bugs to the garden.

  6. Pretend to water the flowers, bury a seed and hide bugs in the garden.

  7. Rearrange the garden: push the play dough together, or sort the dough and flowers by color.

Tips

  • Instead of looking up ideas and planning, we sort of winged it. Gather your kids' favorite toys, mix them up with play dough, and voilà, you have your own play dough idea.from the author
  • Bunnies and a deer trying to eat the flowers made a good opportunity to learn about pests and what they really mean. Big A immediately referenced Thumper eating only the blossoms and not the leaves.from the author
  • Let the kids make the rules. For a short while the purple flowers had to go on the purple play dough, but meadows can sometimes be yellow because it is a magical meadow.from the author
  • With only one roller, expect some negotiation. Big A kept offering the baby 'help', which was her way of getting more turns with the roller.from the author

Make it your own

  • Sort it out by color, for example purple flowers only on purple play dough.
  • Make a magical yellow meadow.
  • Play with the play dough patches pushed together as one big garden, or separated by color.

The story behind it

By TurkeyMom · August 2016
How to make playdough garden
Gather your kids' favorite toys and mix them up with play-doh, and voila, you have your own play dough idea. Brightly colored play-doh, garden flowers, little play animals. That's all you need.
1 / 5

Playdough Garden: the original post

Play dough ideas are aplenty on the web. Instead of looking up on the internet and planning the activity, we sort of winged it like every other play idea. Gather your kids’ favorite toys and mix it up with play-doh and viola you have own play dough idea. Baby A: Pay-doh, Pay-doh Big A (giggling uncontrollably): It’s not pay-doh say play-doh. Pl—ay—doh- She actually breaks it down for the baby and adults alike! Baby A: “Pay doh” Mommy S hands over red playdough Baby A: No. lellow (yellow) actually pointing at green. Since it has been decided by the youngest member of the family that we are squishing play dough for the afternoon, we wanted to spruce it up with something. After gathering flowers from our own lawn we settled on our very broad window sill. The girls rolled the play dough flat with Big A constantly offering Baby A help with the roller even though she clearly did not want it. Big A reasons that the baby is not strong enough to roll down the pay doh oops play dough. Her way of getting more turns with the roller.

  1. Brightly colored play-doh
  2. Flowers from your garden
  3. Little play animals,peThat’s all you need. Simple huh?

My Kids were brimming with play dough ideas. The green play dough was rolled down flat into a meadow. The blue play dough became a pond.

The girls started placing the flowers into the play dough neatly separating and aligning them. Big A is big on order and arrangement. She DID NOT get that from me! Garden Play-doh The tall stems of the flowers became trees in a forest.

colorful play doh garden Big A had great fun pretending to water her flowers, burying a seed, hiding bugs in the garden. There were bunnies and a deer (actually a gazelle) in the garden trying to eat the flowers and immediately she referenced Thumper eating only the blossoms and not the leaves. Good opportunity to learn about pests and what they really mean.

Bunny in a meadow Her play continued with different configurations. play dough together, play dough sorted out by color. For a short while the purple flowers had to go on the purple play dough. On the other hand meadows can sometimes be yellow because it is a magical meadow.

Colorful garden We would have continued but the door bell rang and her next-door friends came over. It is so much fun playing outside in the sun with her friends than playing indoors with mommy and baby. Enjoy this colorful play dough garden activity.

What readers say

No comments yet. Be the first to tell us how it went.

Tried it?

Reviewed before it appears. No links, and please no children's names.

Similar activities

Chilled No-Cook Play Dough

40 min3–7 yrs

No-Cook Marshmallow Playdough

45 min2–6 yrs

Taste-Safe Sand Dough

50 min2–5 yrs

Beach Dough Creatures

40 min2–5 yrs
🛒 Materials