Recently, I shared my recipe for apple cinnamon no-cook play dough, and today I’ll show you how we set up an apple pie making station for dramatic play.
We love play dough at our house, but until recently, I’d never made it with my kids before. Now that we’ve done it once, I don’t know if we’ll ever go back to store-bought play dough.
Store-bought dough is totally fine for this activity, but you’re really missing out by not making my apple cinnamon no-cook play dough! Just sayin!
Looking for an organized guide of fun, easy activities to do with your toddler that also encourages their growth and development?
I’ve created a 3-month activity planner just for busy parents like you! The plan includes 65 detailed, simple, and stress-free activities including: arts and crafts, sensory play, motor skills, and STEM–all using easy-to-find supplies.
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How to Set Up an Apple Pie Dramatic Play Area
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For this dramatic play activity, we used:
- green, red, and tan homemade play dough (store-bought works great, too)
- small rolling pin
- silicone muffin cups
- shape blocks to use as cookie cutters (feel free to use real cookie cutters)
- plates
- a kitchen timer
- a play kitchen oven
I explained to my three-year-old, Elena, how to make apple pies. First, we had to make apples by rolling little balls with the green and red play dough. Those went into the pie tin (silicone muffin cup).
Next, we used tan play dough to roll out a crust. We very carefully picked it up and put it on top of the apples. No lattice crust here. This the beginner level.
Then we trimmed the excess crust (don’t want it burning in the oven, right?) and added some decorations to the top. Elena very carefully carried each apple pie over to her play kitchen and put them in the oven.
She set a timer (for 8 minutes, she said, while turning the knob to 42 minutes), watched the pies “bake” for about 5 seconds, then got bored and decided to make more pies and some cookies.
What We’re Learning
Besides the sensory aspect and working those fine motor muscles (really, it was very difficult for Elena to be gentle with the dough while rolling it and manipulating it), she used her imagination and came up with different ways to make the pies and cookies.
She also had to follow directions, when I talked her through making her first apple pie. Then she improvised with the rest, but still followed the same basic process.
We also used our imagination 🙂
Your Turn to Make Apple Pies with Your Kids
These mini play dough pies are definitely not as delicious as the real thing, but they sure are fun to make!
Do you think you’ll try it?
Here’s the link for my cinnamon-scented no-cook play dough. It’s the next best thing to actually making sweet apple pies.
Looking for an organized guide of fun, easy activities to do with your toddler that also encourages their growth and development?
I’ve created a 3-month activity planner just for busy parents like you! The plan includes 65 detailed, simple, and stress-free activities including: arts and crafts, sensory play, motor skills, and STEM–all using easy-to-find supplies.
Let me help make planning activities for your toddler easy, so you can skip the stress and get straight to the fun!