The Imagination Tree

Creative play and learning for kids

  • Home
  • Welcome
    • About Me
    • Popular Posts
    • Play Challenge
    • Subscribe
  • Age
    • Baby
    • Toddler
    • Preschooler
    • School Age
  • Activities
    • Literacy
    • Numeracy
    • Creativity
    • Physical
    • PHSE
    • Science
  • Resources
    • Spaces
    • Toys
    • Books
  • Contact
  • Kindness Elves

Autumnal Play Dough

September 25, 2010 by Anna Ranson

Today it was raining and the small amount of toys we packed with us for our travels are evidently becoming less intersting by the minute. So I made a batch of play dough and we played with it “Italian Style”!

I didn’t have all of the right ingredients, so I made this by substituting cream of tartar for a squeeze of lemon juice and the food colouring for a teaspoon of instant coffee dissolved in a cup of boiling water. I wanted it to look a natural colour anyway so that helped!

We used some of the things that she has been gathering during our walks and made imprints and impressions into the dough. This was the top of a pine cone. It made lovely patterns, each side being different.

 Then she had a go at sticking in indiviual pieces from the pine cone and it looked like she was making her own little cone sculpture!

She then tried adding other things such as the needles from an Umbrella Pine branch we had found.

Quite a little nature table began to emerge! Then I remembered how much she had loveld making the playdough cupcakes last month and I though, while in Italy, we really should do some playdough pizzas!

I helped her squash and flatten the balls of dough into rounds, then found some dried lentils, fresh basil leaves and rock salt and let her arrange them onto her pizza bases. The results were beautiful! (and yes, she ate some, again!) I can’t imagine what coffee flavoured, salty dough must be like, apart from disgusting!

Then the rain stopped and we moved our little cooking party outside to the flagstones outside the house. We cooked the pizzas in the real pizza oven attached to the house and served them up to each other on little rustic plates (made by a potter in the nearby village.) My brother made real pizzas in this oven in the summer and they were out of this world!

“One pine cone and needles pizza coming riiiiiight up!”

 
A few geranium petals anyone?
 
Ah, the joy of being able to watch the passing tractor traffic whilst playing outside. Perfect!
 
And as we digested our pizzas we went for aonther long walk. This time to look at Pampa’s olive and walnut trees (and to collect more flowers and pebbles too of course!)

It was a long walk and little legs got very tired! Little Pop got to ride in the sling with Mummy (and thankfully we didn’t fall in the mud although we nearly did a couple of times.)

Mummy and Pop in the shadows!

 

Some of Pampa’s wonderful olives ripening. They should be ready for harvesting and turning into oil during November.

And gathering walnuts from the tree by the house.

And even though we are missing Daddy (a lot) we are having a wonderful time enjoying the Italian countryside and pace of life.

Related Posts

  • Natural Fruit Play Dough RecipesNatural Fruit Play Dough Recipes
  • The benefits of playing with play doughThe benefits of playing with play dough
  • Easy Gluten Free Play Dough RecipeEasy Gluten Free Play Dough Recipe
  • Natural Dyes for Play DoughNatural Dyes for Play Dough
  • Matcha Green Tea Play DoughMatcha Green Tea Play Dough
  • Best Ever Chocolate Play Dough RecipeBest Ever Chocolate Play Dough Recipe

Filed Under: Playdough Tagged With: Play Dough

« Italian Days
Number Sorting »

Comments

  1. ana says

    September 26, 2010 at 5:33 pm

    saw your post on ntffc… the photos are wonderful. what a great way to celebrate and enjoy all that is autumn (and that stone stove is wonderful!!)

  2. Joyfulmama says

    September 26, 2010 at 8:16 pm

    Oh, Anna, what beautiful pictures! And those pizzas are out of this world – thank so much for linking this to Joyful Mama’s Play Dough Day! Wishing you a breathtakingly beautiful time there in Italy *sigh* !!

  3. amandab says

    September 27, 2010 at 12:47 pm

    I love your pizza’s and am very jealous of your trip to Italy! It sounds like you are having a wonderful time 🙂

  4. Heather says

    October 1, 2010 at 5:22 am

    I love what you did with playdough. My boys would just flip over using some pinecones and natural materials in their playdough. They’ve actually been asking for some and since it is still too hot to do much outside in the afternoon’s this might just pass the time…

    Thanks for the inspiration!

  5. Christie - Childhood 101 says

    October 4, 2010 at 3:24 pm

    What beautiful pizzas. I love your combination of playdough and natural materials, especially the impressions. The patterns in nature are amazing.

    Thank you for linking up to We Play this week.

  6. Kendra Smith says

    October 5, 2010 at 9:50 am

    You are a wonderful photographer. I’m never tired of seeing your photos. These are especially wonderful. Wishing I could come to Italy for a day and give you all hugs. 🙂

  7. Anna says

    October 5, 2010 at 2:40 pm

    Ah Kendra that would be lovely! You should definitely come out sometime x

  8. Anna says

    October 5, 2010 at 2:41 pm

    Thanks for the lovely comments everyone! I shall come along and visit your blogs.

  9. RedTedArt says

    October 7, 2010 at 11:44 am

    Wow! What a fun way to explore autumn. Love all the different impressions you made. We will have a go ASAP!

    Thank you for linking up to Kids Get Crafty, much appreciated!

    Maggy

  10. JDaniel4's Mom says

    October 8, 2010 at 1:41 am

    I love your playdough. You made it come together so well.

The Imagination Tree on FacebookThe Imagination Tree on TwitterThe Imagination Tree on PinterestThe Imagination Tree on G+RSS feed from The Imagination TreeThe Imagination Tree straight to your inbox

Search The Imagination Tree

About The Imagination Tree Hello and welcome! I'm Anna, Mama of 4, early years teacher and play enthusiast from the UK! Click here to read more about me.

The Kindness Elves Store
Play Ideas on The Imagination Tree

Create with The Imagination Tree

Makes on The Imagination Tree

Sign up for our FREE emails:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Categories

Archives

Copyright © 2023 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT