“We’re making playdough!” rings out through the halls of the Preschool House. The children begin to gather around Maria at one of our meal tables in order to gather and mix the materials that will grant them access to one of childhood’s greatest joys- playdough.
After measuring, Maria carefully places each ingredient into the mixing bowl, all the while articulating each part of the process for the children. They ask questions, make comments, and chatter among themselves, anticipating what will become an integral part of their play.
It isn’t long before all the ingredients are mixed together, and it is time to cook. Some of the children accompany Maria to the kitchen to observe and pour some complementary water into the mix. The children take turns doing this, while also observing safety precautions concerning the oven, keeping their hands out of the mixture, and taking turns to participate in the process. “We’re making playdough!” rings out again, and after cooling, it’s ready to use.
We began our interrogations of playdough with some the children’s favorite glass “gems,” which offer them a chance to create several different kinds of food from their imaginations including LB’s “Strawberry Pie” and JA’s “Blueberry Pancake.” Other children use their rollers and wooden knives to make something inedible, like CKP’s “volcano.” That was the first day.
As the days went on, Maria introduced new materials to the playdough including pipe cleaners, rosemary, and markers. Each of these materials created new opportunities for provocations of new relationships between the materials, and thus, new ideas continued to emerge. Characteristics like the feel and utility of the pipecleaners, the strong smell of the rosemary, and the peculiar way the marker ink accented their creations made these experiences dynamic, agentic, and salient, apt for a multiplicity of ideas and meaning-making.
These ideas began to coalesce and bounce from tray to tray, while the children created alongside one another. In the midst of this, the children made connections with the simultaneous ideas being made manifest, and in so doing, connected with one another. For example, it wasn’t long after JA and TH’s meeting at the table that they were found walking around our space holding hands and singing (one of JA’s favorite activities).
For all of this and more, we are so grateful as teachers. We are grateful for all the opportunities that this doughy material brought us. We are grateful for the joy, connection, and growth we witnessed throughout this process. And we are grateful for Maria, whose thoughtfulness, creativity, and inspiration(s) has brightened and complemented our learning experience(s) together.
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