The play was sparked off by the batch of chocolate play dough that we made earlier in the week. This created some wonderful imaginative play with chocolates being made in the “chocolate factory”, boxes being filled up and then the request came for a sweet shop to sell them in!
For a sweet shop, we needed to add a couple more flavours of play dough so that we could increase the number of things we could make to sell, so we made some pink strawberry play dough and yellow vanilla play dough too. YUM!
Even little Pop was fully entranced by this game and enjoyed the rolling, squishing and flattening element of play the most! She was also very good at decorating the sweets and has mastered to art of pretending to eat them (with just the occasional lick!) down to perfection.
We set up a production line rolling up the dough into little balls to create the sweeties and filled up jars, crates and paper cases to display them all in our role-play shop area.
I found some clear cellophane and cut it into smallish squares, which we used to wrap around some of the balls to turn them into lemon and strawberry sherbets! Mmmmmmm, so realistic and mouth-watering!
They also looked rather beautiful in the jar, ready to tempt all customers into buying them!
Ummmmm, YES please! If only they were real eh?!
This has extended into a lot of maths related pretend play too, with coins being counted out, prices being invented and an understanding of the concept of buying and selling developing. I can’t wait to see what she wants to make next!
Learning Links:
creativity: combine materials to create projects, pretend one object is another in imaginative play, form shapes and models in dough
literacy: create and remain in role in imaginative play, tell stories in play, take on a character, recount experiences in the correct order
physical development: fine motor control via pushing, squeezing, rolling, flattening, moulding, transporting
maths: counting objects, filling and emptying jars, talking about sizes and shapes
phse: concentrating for extensive periods on activities of own choosing, co-operation and sharing of resources
Susanna says
Just * WOW*. I love those jars too. I assume the set up was part of a play set you already had?
Anna @ The Imagination Tree says
yes the little wooden market stall is one of our fav toys! It’s usually a fruit and vegetable shop, but every now and then we turn it into something else!
Cathy@pre-schoolplay says
Love it! What a brilliant idea. It sounds like the girls had great fun preparing their shop – and you too!
Anna @ The Imagination Tree says
yes, let’s be honest, I had JUST as much fun as them! 😉
Cerys @ Rainy Day Mum says
These are the moments that I am looking forward to creating with J and T the most. I remember them from my child hood and they are what make being children magically you have 2 very lucky children and they will look back when they are older and remember things like this with huge smiles on their faces.
Anna @ The Imagination Tree says
I hope so Cerys! I remember so much pretend play from childhood- it really is magical as you say. And I know how you feel- I felt like I had to wait for EVER to be able to do this sort of thing, but it will come soon I promise!
pink and green mama MaryLea says
This is the CUTEST thing ever! So fun, my girls would love this — am filing away and pinning right now to remember for chilly afternoons ahead!
Fondly,
Pink and Green Mama
MaryLea
Anna @ The Imagination Tree says
Thanks so much MaryLea! 🙂
Shelisa says
Oh my gosh, that is one of THE cutest things I have ever seen!
Anna @ The Imagination Tree says
thanks!
Michelle says
So creative. So fun. So SWEET! Love this. 🙂
Anna @ The Imagination Tree says
thank you and haha to the SWEET! 😉
Gaby says
How beautiful! I am very tempted 🙂
Anna @ The Imagination Tree says
they look yummy right?! 😉
Caroline - De tout et de rien says
I know it’s play dough, but they look so good that I want to eat them 🙂 Love it!!!!!!!!!!!
Anna @ The Imagination Tree says
🙂 I keep looking at the sherbets in wrappers and thinking…if only!
Morgan says
We did this in my preschool class a few years back and it was so much fun! Although the set up wasn’t nearly as cute as what you have done here!! I love the little pink stand. We used chocolate and vanilla play dough, I’ll have to try the strawberry with my little one! So cute!
Anna @ The Imagination Tree says
Lovely! yes the strawberry one smells particularly mouth-wateringly good!
PlayDrMom says
How fun. A fun project and a beautiful post!
Anna @ The Imagination Tree says
thank you!
Marieke says
This is such a great idea! You must have had a wonderful time together 🙂
Anna @ The Imagination Tree says
we did and still are! thank you 😉
Andrea says
awesome!!!!!
Anna @ The Imagination Tree says
🙂 thanks
SarahElisabeth says
Yummy, must show this to my little girl. Really practical question, do you leave the playdough out? We’ve had some creations that the owners were keen to keep on display but they do dry out quite quickly. I guess the sweets in cellophane were fine perhaps the answer?
Anna @ The Imagination Tree says
No we definitely had to wrap everything back up as it dried out overnight otherwise. A few sweets were left by mistake and it wasn’t possible to use them again in the morning. So I either put the lid on the jars or popped them back in a zip-loc bag
Elizabeth says
So cute! Where did you get that adorable stand?
Sana says
love this soooo much can’t wait to do this with the kids its so cute, thank you
Joyce says
This is absolutely the cutest play dough idea ever! Wow, how sweet!
Lola says
What a great idea! Looks lovely, yummy and so much fun!
Your blog is always so inspiring, it’s always a pleasure to discover so many activities and great projects, thank you from Spain!!!
Turkey Mom says
Such an adorable project. We were inspired by this (and many others on your blog) and made something on our own. Would love some feedback. We are big fans of all your ideas.