Naming Initial Sounds With Play Dough Cutters

Play dough is one of the resources I never thought Adam would ever enjoy playing with. Due to Sensory Processing Disorder he is not a fan of messy play. However, after exposing him to several different types of play activities over two years our perseverance has paid off. Not only will he tolerate play dough (as long as towel is close at hand so he can wipe any excess play dough off quickly) but he enjoys playing using play dough tools. I combined Adam’s love of letters with play dough tools to create a Naming Initial Sounds with Play Dough Cutters activity.

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Normally I would create our own play dough. However, as Adam received a play dough and cutter set for Christmas we decided to open it. The pack, similar to this one on Amazon, came with 8 small containers of coloured play dough and several small play dough cutters. I chose cutters that had an initial sound that was easy to identify and placed these on a tray. I then took our Wooden Lowercase Letters from Imagido and found the correct letters Adam would need for the activity. These were also placed in the tray along with two mini plastic rolling pins.

Adam loved choosing his own coloured play dough and rolling it flat. He picked out his own play dough cutter and created the object. He told me what object he had created, what letter sound the object began with and then located the correct wooden letter to place next to the play dough shape. Adam created a line of his completed play dough and initial sounds.

I was surprised that Adam opted to use different coloured play dough for each cutter. He was able to identify the d for dolphin and s for star independently.

He then chose blue play dough and picked out the fish play dough cutter. However, Adam turned the cutter around and declared that the shape was a rocket. He even picked out the wooden letter r and would not be convinced that it was a fish. Although I suppose technically the cutter was of a rainbow fish!

Adam continued the activity independently until he had matched 10 play dough cutters to their initial sounds. We will no doubt be getting out more play dough cutters and wooden letters in the future.

Check out these Play Dough Tool activities as part of the #toolsforlearning series:

Letter Formation with Play Dough from Still Playing School

Bug Lab – A Fun Bugs Kids Math Game from Learning 2 Walk

Learning with Playdough Letters and First Words Flash Cards from Crafty Mama in ME

Play Dough and Alphabet Beads from Mom Inspired Life

DIY Play Dough Tools To Explore Texture from Play Dough & Popsicles

Playdough Scene Creation from Powerful Mothering

Simple tools for making words with play dough from The Kindergarten Connection

Letter Sound Activity with Play Dough Tools from Raising Little Superheroes

Patterns and textures with Play Dough Rollers from Play & Learn Every Day

Phases of the Moon from Edventures with Kids

Roll and Build a Play Dough Spud from School Time Snippets

Count & Smash Play Dough Math Activity from Stir the Wonder

The Ultimate DIY Play Dough Kit for Toddlers and Beyond from Lemon Lime Adventures

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Emma Edwards

During a difficult pregnancy suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) Emma vowed to make every day an adventure once she had recovered. Adventures of Adam is the outcome of completing a 100 day play challenge with Adam as part of that promise. Emma has a section dedicated to HG friendly play activities so that Mums can still be part of their children’s play whilst they are ill.

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