Learning with Play Dough

Learning with Play Dough

Play Dough is something that I introduced to my daughter at a fairly young age, I believe she was about 10 months old. We do many different things with play dough that encourages learning. At first she was very happy stacking with the containers, she still enjoys that but she also loves to play with the dough. One of her favorite thing we do is make tiny balls with the play dough. We pick a few different colors and she categorizes them by color.  Picking up the little balls or shapes that you can make with other molds are very good for developing motor skills in those little hands, it is also great for recognizing difference in colors and shapes (we create different shapes with the dough). Categorizing or sorting is great intellectual exercise for children. It helps develop reasoning skills, such as logical thought processes and the ability to discern multiple types of relationships between concepts (shape, color, size,etc.) Reasoning skills are an important part of organizing thoughts for a report, constructing a story, using reference books, conducting interviews, etc. 

So besides sorting and categorizing we count the objects that we make. We add and subtract them from each other. It is such a fun and great way to teach early math. We also have number molds so my daughter has learned many numerals through play dough. It is a tactile way to learn and its best to teach little children (the earlier the better) quantities first then numerals, in fact they have the skill to understand large quantities pretty instantaneously. If you are really interested in teaching Math to your baby, you should go to the Brillkids website. Get the Free E- Book titled Teaching Your Baby Math.

We also make patterns with play dough, as you can see above in one of the pictures she made a pattern with the tiny play dough balls that we made, green 
purple, pink was the pattern there, and to the left was a pattern she made with some molds from the Melissa and Dough Shape, Model and Mold set. Why are patterns important for an early age? Patterns are the heart and soul of mathematics and we can indeed say that almost all of mathematics is about generalizing patterns (Zazkis & Liljedahl, 2002). Learning patterns have become part of the elementary curriculum in many countries in recent years and the introduction of patterns in the early years show some benefits for the students. Two benefits are mentioned in which “patterns are a powerful vehicle for understanding the dependent relations among quantities that underlie mathematical functions, as well as a concrete and transparent way for young students to begin to grapple with the notions of abstraction and generalizations” (Moss & Beatty, 2006). Patterns are also important since it gives a good transition in introducing algebra and is used in formal introductory algebra experiences. Secondary teachers tend to say that students do not understand algebraic functions because they have a lack of early experience in the elementary school that support approaches to algebra. Learning patterns such as repeating patterns, growing patterns, linear patterns, pictorial/geometric patterns and so on should be an essential curriculum that schools should focus on. Obviously these are really easy and FUN ways to start to teach early math, colors, shapes, sizes, opposites (big vs. little) ect.