Nature landscapes with playdough
I love anything to do with nature and especially craft activities that get the kids out there amongst it. In this activity we created nature landscapes using playdough as the base to keep it all together. I really enjoyed doing this with my children and watching them all work together to collect the items we needed and help each other along the way.
Preparation time is minimal and it only takes a few minutes to whip up some playdough. Hand it over and it will keep your children entertained for ages.
What you need
To make the playdough:
- 2 cups plain flour
- 2 Tbspn oil
- ½ cup salt
- 2 Tbspn cream of tartar
- 1 ½ cups boiling water
- Large bowl, spoon & measuring cup
Nature collage:
- Container to collect items
- Sticks, seeds, leaves, rocks, flowers and anything else you can find in your garden.
1. In a large bowl, mix flour, oil, salt and cream of tartar.
2. Add boiling water and stir to combine. It will look a bit crumbly but that’s fine. It will all come together in the next step.
3. Turn mixture out onto your kitchen bench and bring together with your hands. Knead for approx. 1 minute until the dough feels smooth.
4. I did this activity with my 3 children so I made a double batch of playdough. One just wasn’t enough! I then split it into 3 equal balls and gave one to each child for the base of their nature landscape.
5. I gave the kids a container and they ran out into the garden and collected leaves, sticks, seeds, flowers, rocks and anything they thought they could use in their landscapes. It was lovely to see them all working together and discussing what they think would be useful and also look good.
Tip: An empty egg carton can work as a way to separate and collect small nature items too.
6. They spent a long time creating their scenes and when they were finished, they pulled them down and created more. We got adventurous and started building little huts and log cabins. We used red flowers for a camp fire and seeds for the campers to sit on.
7. When we were finished, we pulled out all the garden items out of the playdough, rolled it back into a large ball and stored it in a plastic bag. It keeps for weeks so you can do it all again or use the playdough for another activity.