Building Activity & Engineering

play dough and loose parts construction play

Hands-On Learning Through Play

The other day I though I would set out an assortment of materials on our play table to encourage some open-ended free play. I also set out a few of our favorite construction and building books for inspiration. I wasn’t sure which way he would go with this activity but I was hoping he would really enjoy this play dough construction and activity. Awesome engineering and problem solving skills!

Building Activity Set Up

Here’s what was included on our play table. A big bag of play dough, trucks, duplos and small wooden blocks, books and our party tray of wooden pieces and rocks. I found these little bags of wooden dowels, planks, and jumbo popsicle sticks at the craft store along with a bag of decorative rocks. Some favorite books include Tractor Mac Builds A Barn, Dinosaur Dig, and B is For Bulldozer!

Building Activity And Engineering Play

He used popsicle sticks for the roof and had to practice patience placing each one carefully on top. He also learned about supporting the small sheets of plywood with enough “legs” to keep it securely standing!

I added some of his pretend construction tools as well!

He sawed, measured, hammered and well you know wrenched (??)! Then the legos came out along with the trucks. He tested out pressing the legos into the play dough, made big boulders, and scooped and dumped.

The construction vehicles became part of the fun. They delivered play dough to the construction site to make the foundation. Duplos or legos are also a great addition to a building activity like this one! Very cool with play dough!

Construction and building activity underway. This is really a mixed media building activity!

He decided to make some more buildings with the dowels but realized he needed more play dough to help it stand up! Great problem solving skills were involved with this construction and building activity because of the various materials!

There are so many fun ways to build, construct and explore with play dough, legos and various wooden pieces. He had fun combining everything to make his creations. There were lots of textures to work with and handle. He also discovered new ways to use things!