Magic Dough

I got this lovely idea from MaryAnn f. Kohl in The Giant Encyclopedia of Learning Center Activities!

First, make a fresh batch of play dough, and divide it into balls.

Poke your finger into the ball to make a hole, and  use and eye dropper to drop in a small amount of food colouring. The close up the hole again!

I did all of the above while the children were busy elsewhere, and only called them when I had the dough already set up at their table - they didn't know of the 'surprise' hiding inside!

You can then teach your bambinos this song by Ms Kohl:

Squeeze my dough (Tune: Three Blind Mice)

Squeeze my dough

Squeeze my dough

See how it goes

See how it goes

I play with dough on my play dough mat

I roll it out and I pat it flat

I make a dog and I make a cat

Squeeze my dough!

And here is my Afrikaans version which I taught my children:

Ek speel met klei

Ek speel met klei

Speel jy ook!

Speel jy ook!

Ek speel met klei op my speelkleimat

Ek rol dit op en ek druk dit plat

Ek maak 'n hond en ek maak 'n kat

Ek speel met klei!

As they kneaded and rolled, the colour started to appear in soft streaks and there were squeals of delight!

Another idea would be to drop two or three different colours into each ball for a rainbow effect.