Goodnight Moon Lavender Playdough

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is one of those books that almost every one instantly knows.  While it is often associated with babies and toddlers (I even created a baby shower party around this theme!) the Preschool Book Club thought the book would be a fun one to explore through play.  I recently when to the Building Blocks of Play Conference at Bank Street College of Education (where Margaret Wise Brown and I both went to school!) where the topic of transitional objects was discussed.  Part of the discussion centered on familiar books as a transitional object.  Goodnight Moon is a great example.  Even though my children are capable of reading more complex stories the familiar story of Goodnight Moon is comforting.  Repetition is an important part of the learning experience.  Our kids are loving our Spring Garden Playdough Kit so I decided to create a Goodnight Moon Lavender Playdough Kit.  So much fun!

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WHAT YOU NEED FOR THE GOODNIGHT MOON LAVENDER PLAYDOUGH

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copy of the book Goodnight Moon
lavender playdough recipe (2 cups flour, 2 cups water, 1 cup salt, 4 teaspoons cream of tartar, 2 tablespoons oil, purple liquid watercolor or purple food dye, 10 drops lavender essential oil)
various items from Goodnight Moon (cow, moon, balloon, clocks, socks, stars, “Old woman (bunny) whispering hush”, brush, bowl of mush, mittens, kittens, chairs, bears, little house, mouse)
plastic chip tray to hold all the components
playdough tools (like these)

AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT

literacy
fine motor development
rhyming
dramatic play
1 to 1 correspondence
sensory exploration

HOW TO MAKE THE GOODNIGHT MOON LAVENDER PLAYDOUGH KIT

Begin by making a batch of lavender playdough.  You will need 2 cups flour, 2 cups water, 1 cup salt, 4 teaspoons cream of tartar, 2 tablespoons oil, purple food coloring or liquid watercolor, 10 drops lavender essential oil.  Our full playdough recipe with photo directions are found here.  You can keep the playdough in an airtight container or plastic storage bag until you are ready to use it.

Prior to introducing the Goodnight Moon Lavender Playdough Kit read Goodnight Moon with the children.  Because we have read this book for years this time I had my children pay closer attention to the different things in the book so that we could make a list of what we would need for the playdough.  My 6  year old son wrote the different items on a piece of paper.  We searched for as many items in the house as we could and surprisingly had a lot!  If you are doing this in a classroom setting you could send home the list and have families bring in the items.

After we collected as many items as we could I went to the craft shop and purchased a few items.  Here’s a money saving tip: craft buttons come in cute themes.  I spent $4 on the extra items I needed and my kids loved them.  We added all the items into our favorite playdough kit container which is a simple plastic chip tray.

TIME TO PLAY WITH THE GOODNIGHT MOON LAVENDER PLAYDOUGH!

Since we have this book pretty much memorized at this point my kids loved using the lavender playdough as a base for acting out the story.   Goodnight Moon lends itself perfectly to exploring rhymes and playing with words.  My children loved setting up the different scenes using the book as a reference tool.  They paired the items thats rhymed and counted the different amounts of each item.

After they had set up scenes from the book my kids enjoyed using the different characters (especially the kittens!) to create their own stories and, of course, stop from time to time to smell the calming lavender playdough.

I have a feeling we are going to be enjoying our Goodnight Moon playdough for a while!

 

Looking for more ways to explore Goodnight Moon through play? Check out what the rest of the Preschool Book Club Team created! Click on the links below.

Preschool Art Activity Inspired by Goodnight Moon  Buggy & Buddy
Goodnight Moon Scavenger Hunt Frogs Snails and Puppy Dog Tails
Goodnight Moon Memory Game Sugar Aunts
Goodnight Moon I Spy Game Mama Papa Bubba

Want to explore more books through play?  Check out the rest of the Preschool Book Club Series!