Pumpkin Pie PlayDough Recipe

During October, we had a pumpkin theme for my preschooler. We set up a pumpkin patch play area, read books about pumpkins, and did some fun pumpkin activities. 

One of those activities we made pumpkin pie playdough. The photos do have Halloween cookie cutters in them but swap those out for some pumpkin shapes or thanksgiving theme ones and it would still work today.

After we made the playdough I gave him some items to use to create pumpkins or to let his imagination run wild

The recipe I used was found on DIY Natural and I added pumpkin spice to the recipe. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of flour
• ¼ cup of salt
• 1 Tbsp cream of tartar
• ½ cup of warm water
• 5 drops of orange food coloring
• Pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

1. Mix together the flour, salt, cream of tartar, and pumpkin pie spice.
2. Mix together ½ cup of warm water with a few drops of food coloring.
3. Slowly pour the water into the flour mixture, stirring as you pour. Stir until combined, then knead with your hands until the flour is completely absorbed. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour until it doesn’t stick at all.

** For the pumpkin pie spice, I did not measure it, I just went by smell. It is really up to how much you want to use. I would say  I probably used 1 tablespoon but give or take.

Book of the Week: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Book of the Week: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

 

 

 

Last week, with my toddler we dived into the world of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 

 

He has been obsessed with butterflies lately. They feature a butterfly at the very end but it was fun to talk about the many types of foods while counting. The pictures kept him interested in his reading. Here are some of the activities that we did. I also share these on Instagram, if you would like to follow us there. 

I put red and green paint on paper plates and handed him a potato masher. We created the body and head by dipping the masher into the paint and placing it onto the paper. We also did this with the head. I let him dip his fingers into the red paint to create fingerprint feet for the caterpillar. Once the paint dried I drew a face.

 

 

The day we did this activity we focused on circles. I cut out a couple of green circles and one red one from construction paper. I had him glue them onto a piece of paper in a wavy line like a caterpillar. Afterward, I had him practice drawing lines for legs. He also drew eyes onto the caterpillar. He is three and is finally attempting to draw facial features. It is an exciting milestone for me.

Here is our final caterpillar activity for the week. I cut out strips of green and red construction paper. I helped him create a chain link caterpillar by creating rings and gluing them into each other. Again, he drew eyes onto the caterpillar.

Since the book ends with the caterpillar turning into a butterfly, we ended up creating a clothespin butterfly, at the end of the week. To do this we took a coffee filter and painted it with watercolor paint. Once it dried we accordion file folded the filter and clipped it into the clothespin. I did glue a small magnet on one side to create a magnet that he plays with the refrigerator or he can use to hang up some of his art.

This week we are doing a dinosaur book, check back next week for those activities.