Arctic Themed Playdough Invitation to Play

The heat must be getting to us because some cool arctic play seemed like Heaven to us today! We whipped up a double batch of our bright white homemade playdough, painted and glittered some rocks, and pulled out all our arctic animals. If you’re looking for a fun invitation to play, this arctic themed playdough activity is for you!

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What You’ll Need

Snow playdough

Arctic TOOB

Penguin TOOB

Schleich figurines are another option for the animals

Glass stones

Rocks

White paint

Fine white glitter

Paint brush

What to Do

We started by going on a quick nature walk and picking up a few stones to use in our arctic scene. After washing and drying them, we gave them a couple coats of white paint, glittered them, and coated them in Mod Podge. The stones worked perfectly as icebergs, stones for building ice caves, and igloo building. Don’t worry about getting the paint on smoothly, the paint globs just add to the texture of the snowy fixtures. 😉

Once the stones have been painted and glittered, we let them dry and got started on our snowy playdough. You could either purchase white playdough and add some ultra fine glitter to it, or you could make a batch of your own. We took our regular BEST EVER playdough recipe and simply swapped out the flour for cornstarch. You could also add a few drops of glycerin to make it even softer. Once our playdough was made, we added some (okay, a lot!) of glitter to it for good measure.

Related: Icy Cool Snowflake Slime

Once our stones were dry and our playdough cooked and cooled, we took out our arctic animals and glass gems and got to work having fun! The little ones got right to work setting up their wintery scenes. First up was a small igloo with glass stepping stones. The glass stepping stones later became ice cookies (talk about multi-purpose uses!).

Looks like the seals are getting a visit from their neighbor, the polar bear! Welcome to our igloo, friend!

Fox’s home was built from snowy boulders with snow playdough squished between as support. The kiddos had fun making foot prints in the “snow” as well and then matching the animal with the print.

Related: Winter Paper Chain {Free Printables}

Resting on an iceberg.

Scooting around on an iceberg.  

After a busy day of playing, it was time for a break. Penguin rested on a rock for a little sunbathing.

This fun arctic playdough scene kept the little ones busy for hours. We even added another double batch of snow playdough after about an hour of play so that they could build even more igloos. They enjoyed burying “fish” into the ice so the penguins could “go fishing.” To make this more of an educational experience, we suggest reading this arctic animals book as the little ones play with their playdough scene

If you enjoyed this activity, we’re sure you’ll love this recipe from FreshlyMessy.com on making sensory snow! We haven’t tried it yet but it looks so fun that we are going to put it on our to-do list!

Looking for more simple fun activities? Be sure to check out our other creative ideas:

• Hot cocoa number activity sheets {free printable}
• 20 winter activities for kids
• 30 winter crafts for kids
• Snowflake slime recipe
• Winter playdough kit printable playdough mats

What else would you like to see from The Art Kit? Let us know in the comment section below.

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