Early Learning Ideas

Engaging Activities for Little Learners

  • Home
  • Math
  • Literacy
    • Name Activities
    • Alphabet Activities
    • Beginning Sound Activities
    • Rhyming Activities
    • sight word activities
    • Book Ideas
  • Fine Motor
    • Fine Motor
    • Playdough
    • Sensory play
  • Science
  • Dramatic Play
  • Art & Crafts
    • Art Ideas
    • Craft Ideas
  • Themes
  • Seasonal
    • Beginning of School Year
    • Christmas
    • Easter
    • end of school year
    • fall
    • Halloween
    • Mother’s Day
    • spring
    • St. Patrick’s Day
    • summer
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine’s Day
    • winter
You are here: Home / Themes / Bugs and Insects / How to Make the Best Bug Themed Playdough Invitation to Play

How to Make the Best Bug Themed Playdough Invitation to Play

Pin447
Share
Tweet
447 Shares

Create a bug themed playdough invitation to play with these material ideas. Your kids will have a blast with this bug & insects theme activity.


I’m not a huge fan of most bugs.  My family recently moved into a newly built house in the hill country outside of Austin, Texas.  The creatures that inhabited the hills before we moved in don’t understand why we don’t want to share our shelter with them.  Let’s just say that this Ohio girl now knows what scorpions look like…..YIKES!

Well, here are some fun bugs that I can handle.  Here are some ideas for a bug-themed playdough invitation to play.

Create a bug themed playdough invitation to play with these material ideas. Your kids will have a blast with this activity. It's perfect for your bugs and insects theme, camping theme, outdoor theme, spring theme, summer theme units and lesson plans in a preschool or pre-k classroom. Kids can make bugs, create insect habitats. There are also ideas to add math and literacy learning activities to this play based learning center. Add ladybugs, spiders, bees, etc. #preschool #playdough

If your kids can’t share supplies, don’t worry.  You can use the ideas below to create individual playdough kits for your kids.

Start with Some Playdough

Any color of playdough will work well for this activity.  I made a batch of my quick playdough recipe and used green food coloring to make a great buggy color. Brown playdough or dirty playdough would be great to use as well.

Supplies from the Hardware Aisle

The fun part of creating an invitation to play is finding fun materials to add to a divided plastic tray.  This time, I found some fun materials in the aisles of my local Home Depot store.

Create a bug themed playdough invitation to play with these material ideas. Your kids will have a blast with this activity. It's perfect for your bugs and insects theme, camping theme, outdoor theme, spring theme, summer theme units and lesson plans in a preschool or pre-k classroom. Kids can make bugs, create insect habitats. There are also ideas to add math and literacy learning activities to this play based learning center. Add ladybugs, spiders, bees, etc. #preschool #playdough

The man who helped me out in the electrical department probably thought that I was a little crazy when I purchased 3-foot lengths of wire.  He started asking me all kinds of technical questions…like did I want single strand or multi-strand wire?

I just want bendy wire in pretty colors….3 feet of each, please.

So, for only a few dollars I got some nylon-wrapped wire.  I borrowed a tool from my husband’s workshop and cut them into small lengths.  Kids can use them for antennae, legs, or whatever their creative minds come up with.

Create a bug themed playdough invitation to play with these material ideas. Your kids will have a blast with this activity. It's perfect for your bugs and insects theme, camping theme, outdoor theme, spring theme, summer theme units and lesson plans in a preschool or pre-k classroom. Kids can make bugs, create insect habitats. There are also ideas to add math and literacy learning activities to this play based learning center. Add ladybugs, spiders, bees, etc. #preschool #playdough

While I was at Home Depot, I also picked up some more washers. (They also worked well for a construction playdough tray)

Additional Materials for Your Playdough Tray

I found some fun brads at the craft store.  I think it’s kind of fun to poke them into the playdough to make spots.  Check out garage sales, recycled art supply stores, or your girlfriend’s craft stash for some fun supplies.

Create a bug themed playdough invitation to play with these material ideas. Your kids will have a blast with this activity. It's perfect for your bugs and insects theme, camping theme, outdoor theme, spring theme, summer theme units and lesson plans in a preschool or pre-k classroom. Kids can make bugs, create insect habitats. There are also ideas to add math and literacy learning activities to this play based learning center. Add ladybugs, spiders, bees, etc. #preschool #playdough

In addition to the wire, brads, and washers, we added the following materials to create a bug-themed playdough tray:

  • plastic bugs (there is even a scorpion in there)
  • stones, rocks
  • tree cookies or wedges
  • strips of tulle netting
  • copper wire (found in the jewelry making supplies)

Here are some ideas for additional materials:

  • twigs
  • leaves
  • gravel
  • bug containers
  • magnifying glasses
  • buttons
  • pom-poms
  • pipe cleaners

Create a bug themed playdough invitation to play with these material ideas. Your kids will have a blast with this activity. It's perfect for your bugs and insects theme, camping theme, outdoor theme, spring theme, summer theme units and lesson plans in a preschool or pre-k classroom. Kids can make bugs, create insect habitats. There are also ideas to add math and literacy learning activities to this play based learning center. Add ladybugs, spiders, bees, etc. #preschool #playdough

When you put a variety of materials together, your kids can have a blast getting creative.

Create a bug themed playdough invitation to play with these material ideas. Your kids will have a blast with this activity. It's perfect for your bugs and insects theme, camping theme, outdoor theme, spring theme, summer theme units and lesson plans in a preschool or pre-k classroom. Kids can make bugs, create insect habitats. There are also ideas to add math and literacy learning activities to this play based learning center. Add ladybugs, spiders, bees, etc. #preschool #playdough

I really liked the addition of the tulle.  The playdough did stick in the netting, but it was still a fun material to add to the mix.

Create a bug themed playdough invitation to play with these material ideas. Your kids will have a blast with this activity. It's perfect for your bugs and insects theme, camping theme, outdoor theme, spring theme, summer theme units and lesson plans in a preschool or pre-k classroom. Kids can make bugs, create insect habitats. There are also ideas to add math and literacy learning activities to this play based learning center. Add ladybugs, spiders, bees, etc. #preschool #playdough

Create Playful Learning Opportunities

Kids are always learning when they play with playdough.  You can encourage additional opportunities for math and literacy learning by providing number cards, letter rocks, or playdough mats.

I hope that you and your kids enjoy this bug-themed playdough invitation to play.  Play bugs are so much more fun than real ones.  Don’t you think?

Additional Bug Themed Resources in the Store

Are you looking for additional bug-themed activities for your kids?  Check out the following resources in my store.

Pin447
Share
Tweet
447 Shares
How to Make This Simple Caterpillar Pattern Activity
How to Make a Simple Butterfly Playdough Tray That Your Kids Will Love
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Looking for something??

Try out these hand strengthening activities for kids. The fun fine motor activities will build and improve strength in little hand muscles. From squeezing activities to hole punch and plunger activities, these ideas to increase hand strength are perfect for preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, occupational therapy classrooms, and at home. From theraputty, toys like squigz, and squirt guns your preschoolers will love these ideas. Check them out today.
Use these free printable nature scavenger hunt books to encourage kids to write, draw, and read while exploring their world. Perfect for pre-k, preschool or kindergarten age kids. Use the free printables in the classroom, on the playground, during nature walks or hikes, on camping trips, in the backyard, or during summer camp. Use this emergent reader for your plant and seeds theme, spring theme, and pond theme unit and lesson plans. #preschool #preschoolactivities
Alphabet activities such as making letter collages or using letter mats are a great hands-on way to teach letter identification and reinforce letter-sounds. Here are over 200 material ideas that you can use for your collages or letter mats. A printable reference list or art and other materials is included. Better than worksheets, these are perfect hands-on activity for your preschool and pre-k classroom or lesson plans. Your young children will love this sensory learning opportunity. #preachool

Available in the Store

Kids love these hole punch activities. Use the printables to build fine motor skills, for hand strengthening, and to improve hand-eye coordination in a fun and exciting way. Perfect for your preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, special education and occupational therapy classroom. The printables include shapes and many themes and seasonal printables to use during spring, summer, winter, and fall. #finemotor #finemotorskills #preschool
Use these 11 different printable name puzzles with your preschoolers for name and literacy activities. Find ideas for the whole year! Perfect for your preschool or kindergarten classroom, or at-home learning or homeschool. Teach your kids to spell their names, construct their names, and the beginning steps to writing their names with these hands-on activities. Make learning fun in fall, winter, spring, & fall with themes from pumpkin, Thanksgiving, caterpillar, snowman, and many more!
There are so many ways that your kids can work on name practice with these editable name activity mats. Perfect for early childhood, preschool, and pre-k classroom, this is a fun way to work on name recognition, the alphabet, letter sounds, spelling their names, handwriting practice, fine motor skills...etc.. You can even include pictures. Use for back to school, the beginning of the school year, an all about me theme unit or lesson plans. #preschool #nameactivities #backtoschool
Use these 1-20 number activity mats to help your kids in preschool, pre-k and kindergarten learn counting, number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, and number sense.  The mats are a great multi-sensory tool that your kids will love. There are so many ways to explore numbers on just one page. Use playdough to form numerals, trace the dotted numbers, represent the number with finger-counting cards, ten frame, and build the number with counting cubes. #preschoolmath #prekmath #kindergarten
Use these CVC Beginning Sound Clip cards to help your kids hear and see the beginning sounds in words. They will love this hands-on early literacy activity...perfect for teaching early literacy concepts in your preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten classroom. 17 word families are included. Looking for ideas for teaching rhyming, letter sounds, phonemic awareness, and phonological awareness? These activities are perfect for your literacy centers as independent and small group activities.
These rhyming clip cards will help your kids see and hear rhymes in simple CVC words. Kids love clipping clothespins on the rhyming words in this activity. Perfect for small group or independent activities in your preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, or SPED classroom. An engaging way to teach rhyming, early literacy concepts, and phonological awareness to young children. #rhymingactivities

Search by Category

Free ABC Clip Cards
  • Contact
  • About Me
  • Archive
  • FAQ
  • Disclosures
  • Privacy Policy
  • Blog

Copyright © 2021 · Early Learning Ideas by Jennifer Hier