Today it is all about playdough AND letters with this fun playdough letter mazes idea! Keep it simple with little ones or turn it into a challenge for older kids. Read on to learn more…
With these playdough letter mazes, multi-sensory learning takes place, perfect for young kids!
You will need:
- Playdough(we make our own using this microwave recipe
- A tray
- A marble
Simply flatten the playdough on the tray and press a letter maze (you can do numbers and shapes too) with your thumb into the playdough. Go deep and wide enough so that the marble fits snugly.
Here we used the younger ones’ initials. Show them where to start and the correct direction to work on letter formation.
Let them push the marble with a finger or stick. See how quickly they can do that without pushing it out of the maze. Time them and let them beat their best scores or each other. PS: use a bigger ball(like a bouncy ball) to be safe, rule of thumb, is the younger the child, the bigger the ball;)
Ask the older kids to move the marble through the maze by only manipulating the tray. This is quite tricky, especially around the corners! Bilateral coordination and hand-eye coordination are being developed here. Let them figure out how to prevent the marble from rolling out of the maze(psst: the corners must be quite defined) and which letters will be the best to make mazes from(round letters don’t have anywhere to slip out…)
Such a fun way to introduce letters to young kiddos and to play with letters older kids are already familiar with!
Nadia van Zyl says
Fabulous, happy to help!
Jennifer says
First time kindy teacher of 60 students,have an observer with me in class but she’s not really of a help in class.
Browsing through your website, I’m very much interested,it really really help me with new and simple ideas.
Thanks.☺☺☺!
Nadia van Zyl says
A store in South Africa called Crazy Store ? These ones on Amazon are similar http://amzn.to/2sxHAfP
Brianna Franzese says
Where are these trays from?