Social interaction skills
A toddler participates in open-ended play dough play with a caregiver.
Be Prepared: The activity uses play dough to facilitate one-to-one play with a toddler. Prepare two balls of soft play dough, one for you and one for the toddler. Make the toddler’s ball of play dough about the size of the toddler’s fist.
[Invite a toddler to sit with you at a low table. Greet the toddler by name and display the two balls of play dough.]
I have play dough for you and for me. Here is your play dough! We can play together!
You can touch and hold your play dough. How does it feel?
[Pause for the toddler to respond. Describe the toddler’s actions with the play dough. Example: “You are poking your play dough with your finger! You are feeling the play dough.”]
My play dough feels soft and squishy.
What are you going to do with your play dough?
[Encourage the toddler to manipulate the play dough, and manipulate your dough close by. Talk with the toddler about his/her actions, as well as your own actions, as you play side by side with your respective balls of dough. Promote the toddler’s engagement with the play dough using strategies such as the following:
[Describe the time together, focusing on the interactions. Example: “We had fun playing together with our play dough! You poked your fingers in the play dough. I did the same thing with my play dough. You made tiny pieces and then squeezed your play dough back together. Then we both made our play dough flat, like pancakes! Thank you for playing with me, Jamar.”]
Most toddlers enjoy the sensory experience of manipulating soft play dough. As young toddlers engage in parallel play, they begin to pay more attention to what other children and adults are doing next to them. This activity encourages the toddler to notice what another person is doing. Some toddlers will watch and imitate your actions with the play dough. Others may focus on their own discoveries with the play dough and may enjoy being watched and imitated by you during their play.
Extra support
Enrichment
Social interaction skills
A toddler participates with a caregiver in play dough play that includes play dough tools and encourages following each other’s actions.
Be Prepared: Prepare two balls of soft play dough, one for the toddler and one for you. Make the toddler’s ball about the size of his/her fist. Place the play dough tools on a low table with two balls of play dough.
Invite a toddler to join you at a low table to play with play dough. Encourage the toddler to use his/her hands to explore the play dough. Use your fingers to also manipulate your ball of play dough. Talk about how the dough feels. Example: “My play dough feels soft and squishy. What does your play dough feel like?”
Introduce several play dough tools and invite the toddler to watch you use a tool. Example: “I am using something to make a butterfly with my play dough. This is called a mold. See how I press the mold down? Look, I made a butterfly with the play dough! Would you like to try making a butterfly with your play dough? You can use this mold and do the same. Or you can do something different.”
Continue to play with the dough next to the toddler. Follow the toddler’s lead with the dough if he/she is actively manipulating his/her dough. If it seems the toddler would prefer to watch and maybe follow your actions, use a tool that you think would be of interest to the toddler. Example: if the toddler appears to be interested in using a cookie cutter, demonstrate and describe how to press the cutter into the dough to cut out the shape. Encourage the toddler to imitate your actions. Examples: “You are looking at the dinosaur cookie cutter. Would you like to make a dinosaur with your play dough?” (Pause for response.) ”I am going to use the cookie cutter that looks like a dog. You can watch how I do it!”
Talk with the toddler about his/her ideas and actions with the play dough. Example: “You are pounding your play dough. Now your play dough is flat. What are you going to do next with your play dough?”
Provide new ideas for manipulating the play dough. Example: “I am using my hand to roll my play dough. Now my play dough looks like a snake! You can do the same and make a snake with your play dough, too! Let’s roll our play dough and make two snakes!”
Acknowledge and affirm the toddler’s participation. Recognize the toddler’s actions that you followed or the toddler’s attempts to imitate your actions with the play dough. Example: “We both made snakes with our play dough! You watched me roll my play dough with my hand, then you did the same. Now we have two play dough snakes!”
This activity supports the development of social interaction skills by encouraging a toddler to follow your lead with play dough and also supports your following the toddler’s actions. It is unlikely the play will evolve into taking turns in following each other’s play dough actions, but it is beneficial to emphasize you are watching and copying the toddler’s actions (or vice versa). Some toddlers will come to the activity with clear ideas that they promptly use with the play dough. Others may be interested in your manipulation of the play dough, at least initially.
Look for opportunities to use your knowledge of the toddler’s interests to enhance their play. Example: If a toddler is interested in dinosaurs, he/she may enjoy working with a dinosaur cookie cutter, with or without your demonstration. The use of cookie cutters offers the possibility that a theme may emerge as part of the play (but should not be forced or imposed). In the activity description, for example, the creation of two snakes could lead to more advanced play.
Toddlers will vary in how much time they spend with the play dough. Some will enjoy manipulating the dough and experimenting with different tools. Others may choose to leave the activity after using one tool. Affirm the toddler’s efforts to explore and manipulate the play dough in new ways.
Extra support
Enrichment
Social interaction skills
Toddlers notice and potentially follow other toddlers’ actions as part of guided play with play dough.
Be Prepared: Form one ball of dough for each toddler that is approximately the size of a toddler’s fist.
Invite several toddlers to a low table to play with play dough. As the toddlers begin to explore and manipulate their play dough, invite them to imitate your actions. Example: “I am going to make my play dough flat. Watch as I push down on my play dough to make it flat. You can do the same and push down on your play dough too!” Acknowledge each toddler’s attempt to copy your actions. Example: “First our play dough balls were round. Now they are flat! I pushed down on my play dough to make it flat, and you did the same!”
Invite the toddlers to consider what they would like to do next with the play dough. This time, encourage the toddlers to imitate each other. Example: “What should we do next with our play dough? Elise is poking holes in her play dough. We can all make holes in our play dough. Let’s do what Elise is doing!” Imitate a toddler’s actions with the play dough and describe your imitation. Example: “I am doing the same as Elise. I am poking holes in my play dough!”
Encourage toddlers to watch, and maybe imitate, what another toddler is doing with play dough by describing a toddler’s actions with the play dough. Acknowledge toddlers’ notice of what their peers are doing.
Conclude the session by describing what happened. Emphasize paying attention to what others were doing and maybe doing what others did with their play dough. Example: “We had fun playing with play dough today! First our play dough was round, like a ball. We pushed it down to make it flat. Elise showed us how to poke the play dough to make holes. We all did the same as Elise! We watched Jamie make a rope by rolling the play dough.”
Noticing what another person is doing is part of good social interaction skills. Pay attention to and acknowledge toddlers’ efforts to watch, and maybe imitate, what another toddler does with the play dough. This peer focus is in contrast with the toddler-adult (caregiver) arrangement of Option 2. The focus on your actions with the play dough in the opening segment of this activity is simply to introduce the idea of watching and doing what someone else does. It is important to promptly transition to watching peers, as described in the plan.
Some toddlers enjoy watching and imitating others. Others may watch but choose not to imitate. Imitating another’s actions requires more careful watching, of course, but it is not essential to benefiting from the activity. Some toddlers may not watch or imitate actions of another person until they have had adequate time to make their own discoveries with play dough.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: play dough, assortment of play dough tools
Arrange the play dough and tools on a low table. Invite several toddlers to explore the play dough with one or several different tools. As the toddlers play, describe their actions with the materials. Encourage the toddlers to watch, and maybe imitate, the actions of their peers while they play.
Materials: play dough, assortment of play dough tools
Children of all ages enjoy working with play dough. Provide multiple experiences with play dough on a regular basis. Younger toddlers will enjoy watching, and possibly imitating, the actions of their older peers with the play dough. Older children may enjoy helping their younger peers use the tools and make new creations with the dough. You may wish to provide a plastic mat for each child to define their space and simplify cleanup.
© 2024 The Trustees of Purdue University | All Rights Reserved