Playdough Art Based Station

To give the students more opportunity to make sculptures, we have a Playdough Station. In this Art Based Station, students can make any sculpture they want. Below are some examples of students who practiced making masks with the dough.

Shape Attributes

The students have recently been learning about the various attributes of shapes. They worked on various lessons including sorting shapes into 2D and 3D shapes. They also identified the number of edges, vertices, and faces of 3D shapes using garage sale dot stickers (it helps them identify which they've already counted). Additionally, they sorted cards of various 2D and 3D shapes into categories such as rolls, has 3 or more faces, has vertices, etc. They also made various 3D shapes out of playdough.

Playdough Fractions

To help the students visualize fractions, or parts of a set, the students created playdough "cookies" which they had to cut apart to share with their friends. The students first rolled out playdough and then used the container to cut out a circle. I then gave them a variety of scenarios in which they had to share their "cookie" with someone. For example, if I said that two friends wanted to share the "cookie" then they had to divide it into halves. I would ask them how much had been eaten if only one friend ate their piece and they would have to respond with "1 out of 2." We repeated this several times by dividing the "cookies" into thirds and fourths. I would ask the students various questions including how much was left behind if a certain part was eaten.

Playdough 3D Shapes

Kids love playdough! So, if you are looking for a way to keep them engaged in a lesson, give them playdough. While doing a lesson on 3D shapes I wanted the students to have concrete examples of how 3D shapes are similar and different. The students first made a sphere by rolling the playdough into a ball. We talked about how the sphere would roll because it was curved and had not vertices. They then flattened the top and sides a little bit to create a cube. We talked about when the sides were flattened the shape would not longer roll and that vertices and edges had formed. They then counted the number of edges and vertices. The students then flattened the top a little more to make a rectangular prism. They noticed that the edges and vertices remained the same but now the shape was longer. They connected back to prior learning about squares and square rectangles and their similar attributes. they then rolled the rectangular prism like a "snake" to turn it into a cylinder. They discovered that this shape would roll because it was now curved and the edges and vertices were gone. They then rolled just one end of the cylinder into a point to make a cone. They discussed how this shape would roll because it had a circular base but could only roll if it was on its side. They really seemed to understand the attributes of the shapes with this hands on lesson.