This reindeer playdough game combines fine motor practice with a fun, hands-on math game for your pre-k or kindergarten students.
I used my favorite homemade play dough recipe; then added one tablespoon of ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon each to achieve the brown color.
Not only will this recipe create a wonderful aroma in your classroom, it can also double as gingerbread play dough for even more opportunities for fun.
Supplies to Make Reindeer Playdough
- Play Dough – (storebought or my Homemade Playdough Recipe)
- Wiggly Eyes
- Brown Pipe Cleaners {chenille stems}
- Foam Die
- Pony Beads
How to Play the Reindeer Playdough Game
Set out the play dough, wiggly eyes, pipe cleaners, and red pony beads and invite your students to create their own reindeer. After the reindeer have been created, set out a container of pony beads and the foam die. Students will take turns rolling the die; each time they roll the die they count out the correct number of pony beads and place them on the reindeer’s antlers.
Students will keep rolling and playing until their reindeer’s antlers are full.
Play your favorite version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in the background to get everybody in the holiday spirit.
More Christmas Ideas
Christmas Tree Sensory Bin Printable– Sensory bins are great ways to engage preschoolers in exploring and to build conceptual knowledge. This Christmas sensory bin builds pre-literacy skills. Children can find and match alphabet letters. They build visual discrimination skills, identifying the differences among letters. And they have so much fun digging in the bin to find the letters.
Five Senses Activities for Christmas – The five senses are key tools for preschoolers to explore and understand the world around them. When teachers can engage one or more of the senses, the learning experience becomes more concrete and more memorable. Here are over 20 activity ideas that will engage the senses as you invite preschoolers to learn more about Christmas.
Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments Kids Can Make- Salt dough ornaments are a classic Christmas craft, but they’re also tons of fun for kids and super easy to make. The best part? You probably already have the ingredients you need sitting in your pantry at home!
We did a similar activity last week with turkeys. I can’t wait to reuse the play dough for these reindeer. Thanks for the great idea!
I used this activity with small groups during the week before Christmas break. They enjoyed it so much! Thanks for the great idea.