Playdough and shells: so much fun for little ones

Exploring playdough and shells together can inspire interesting questions and creations. It’s a perfect activity that pairs playful fun with learning.

When sitting down with my girls and some playdough, I never thought that adding shells to our play would inspire interesting questions and creations. It was a perfect activity that paired playful fun with learning. Here’s what we made and discovered.

Playdough and shells

Animals with shells

We made snails and hermit crabs by adding a real shell to a playdough body. They look very life-like!

What we talked about:

• Why animals have shells
• How they use their shells
• What the advantages are of having a shell
• Other animals with shells

 

 Playing with Shells and Playdough

We had fun creating with playdough and shells. We made:

• Two playdough balls and sorted the shells  into large and small
• A rock pool and added shell creatures
• A beautiful shell and playdough sculpture

 

 Making shells using playdough

We looked at the shells and tried to make them out of playdough. This was quite hard at first but after a few tries Miss Possum and I worked together on the project. They turned out great and Miss Possum then could make her own.

You can also try shell imprints. They look lovely in playdough and children notice the patterns and shapes so much more. They’re almost shocked at the imprint and think it’s magical.  I think it looks magical too!

We talked about:

• How shells are made
• Where we find them
• What’s their purpose
• Why there are different shaped shells

Another great way to combine these two  materials is to make letters on playdough using shells.

I’d never have expected that we’d learn so much with playdough and shells but we really did.  I think we’ll be playing with playdough and nature much more in future.