If you haven’t already guessed, engaging with playdough with the kiddos that I work with is one of my favorite activities.  I make my own playdough much of the time or I use the playdough that they have at home.

Special Shapes for Fall

I just wanted to show you my latest cookie cutters and cards that I’ve made for Thanksgiving and the fall season.

I found these fun shapes at the dollar store! 

 Talk about finding something just when you need it!

Let me back up a bit . . .

By the way, I added a lot more cinnamon than this picture shows!  Oops!

Last month when I was making playdough for Halloween fun, I went a little overboard with the cinnamon in my recipe. (Great for a sensory element  and it just smells so good!)  Anyway, my lovely orange playdough turned quite brown.  Okay, so I put it aside and started again.   I didn’t want to just throw away this wonderful smelling playdough, so I put it in a plastic bag knowing that I could use it for mixing with yellow and orange to make some cool autumn leaves.

So . . . when I found the football and acorn cookie cutters at the dollar store (Dollar General) I might have squealed a little.  Acorns and footballs are brown!  And the pack of 4 was only $1!

More than just Turkeys

Anyway, one thing lead to another and I ended up with a plethora of cards, way more than I really need but figured that it would be great to have a variety because my kids have a variety of interests.  Once I laminate them, they will last for many years, so a little extra time and effort now will payoff down the road.

Here’s What I Did

I challenged myself to using each cookie cutter shape for at least 3 other pictures of objects that we could talk about during therapy time!  The added challenge was that it needed to fit the theme of fall and Thanksgiving!  So here’s what I came up with for each shape . . .

Acorn Shape

This one was fun and fairly easy to come up with a few more autumn things to talk about and create.  The corn idea I found online that someone else had made and the others I made up because I love scarecrows and those little faces.  You can really use any color playdough but I’m happy to use my cinnamon/brown for the acorn!

Leaf Shape

I like my leaf and apple tree.  I’m very proud of my turkey but I know the scarecrow is a bit of a stretch!  But again, I love scarecrows and he kind of fit in the leaf shape.

Circle Shape

The circle is a shape we probably all have and was pretty easy to come up with some Thanksgiving or fall items.  I made an apple, pumpkin, flower and a few pies.

Football Shape

This one was the most fun to create.  I was happy with them all and surprisingly, the pinecone was the most challenging to make.  There was a lot of trial and error, but I think in the end they are recognizable.  So, for the football shape, I made a football, turkey face, owl and pinecone.

Details

These are the three colors that I chose to use for my fall activity.  Well, I didn’t actually choose brown, but, you know . . .

It ended up being a good thing.  So, this week I plan on using these colors and mixing them a bit to make some fun leaves.

This is the recipe I used for the playdough.

I used gluten free flour for the yellow playdough.  I have some families that were curious so I wanted to try it out for myself.  The flour I used (Pillsbury Best) was a blend of rice flour, potato starch, pea fiber, tapioca starch and xanthan gum.  I followed the same recipe with the same measurements and it turned out great!

I followed the same directions that I describe in this previous blog post  for playdough match cards.

Why is it so important to play together?  Read this post about playdough engagement.

Supplies

Here are some resources for the things that I used to make this craft.

Laminator

This is similar to the laminator that I have and I love it!  I’ve had it for many years, and trust me, it gets used a lot for my book projects and playdough cards and mats.  I don’t think they make the model that I own anymore, but this is the upgrade from the one I bought years ago.

Laminating Pouches

You can find the laminating sheets on Amazon too. Scotch makes regular laminating pouches and also the heavy duty 5 mil thickness. For this project the regular laminating sheets are perfect, but you could use either one.

Cookie Cutters

You can find cookie cutters anywhere from the grocery store, to the dollar store, to the craft stores.  I recently found a new resource for fun shapes and lots of ideas too!

These sets from Sweet Sugarbelle have all you need to create a variety of shapes.  It includes ideas for using each cutter for a variety of different subjects too.

 I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Come back to see what ideas I will have for December activities!

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