Play Dough Face Mats

I saw some face blanks on Pinterest for use with play dough. Knowing that children are excessively self-centered, I thought they would have a much better time using their OWN faces for play dough play. So...I took their pics, took it down to their essence, printed them off and laminated them. Again, my camera leaves much to be desired, so the pics came out darker than I wanted, but it was too late to turn back, as they were swarming me like bees to get these done for them and wouldn't stand another photo booth session. So they got what they got for now. I need to make some more colors of play dough, but they really like the red. I can't believe this play dough was made the end of November and it's still perfect. I do LOVE this wonderfully scented, colored, textured and totally non-toxic [and according to G, great tasting] Kool-aid play dough recipe and so do the children.

I tried to leave just enough around their faces that the little ones would have a good concept of placement, which would be difficult if I had centered in too much. I added a few play dough things to the 1 year-olds' for my own enjoyment, and made G's eye blob into a pirate patch, but they did a great job blobbing things on as they wished, which required fine motor to put the play dough into little pieces and place on the mats. 

The 10-year old thought it was a hoot, and an excellent excuse to procrastinate his homeschool work.

 The 2 1/2 year-old did blobs as well. 

The 3 year-old was able to do simple shapes, the petal flower she asked that I show her how to do, and duplicate ideas the 10 year-old and I performed. At the end, she tried for a whole head of hair and beard, but ran out of play dough. No one was willing to give up their portion.

This is a great sensory experience. The children really had a lot of fun with it. It's great for fine motor skills, creativity, and a four-sensory experience if you use scented play dough [five for the littlest ones who eat it!] Another craft that received a rating of:

Tags: Play dough, playdoh, recipe, printable, craft, art, faces, sensory, kool aid, preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, childcare, daycare, homeschool