I have enjoyed sharing the interactive books of Christie Matheson with my pre-k class over the past few weeks.
As with most books we share with the children, we like to extend the book in various ways around the classroom. The books by Christie Matheson were perfect for introducing a little springtime play into our centers. Miss Lauren set up this fabulous play dough planting station for the children to play, create, and explore.
On the table, the children found watering cans, balls of brown homemade play dough, seeds, tweezers, and flower pots. The only thing missing were the plants which brings us to our writing center.
At the writing center the children could make their own flowers to add to the play dough planting center.
All through the morning, the children created their very own beautiful collection of potted plants!
Not every child chose to make a flower, some just preferred exploring the wonderful sensory experience of mixing and tweezing seeds in play dough.
I love an invitation to play that leads to a variety of open-ended experiences. It not only captures student attention but it gets students with all kinds of interests engaged in the process.