Play Dough Animal Rescue is a simple indoor activity that I used to entertain my toddler and preschooler and strengthen their small motor muscles. They also did a little problem solving when we created a play dough animal puzzle!
Do your kids like play dough? Mine do! They normally stick to rolling it, using cookie cutters, making food, etc. To switch it up, I set up this play dough animal rescue for my 18-month-old and 3-year-old.
Two Ways to Do the Play Dough Animal Rescue Activity
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For this activity, I used:
- homemade play dough (store bought is also great)
- toy animals (ours are from two sets: Noah’s ark and the barnyard animals)
- rolling pin
Part One: Toddler Animal Rescue
Set up is really easy.
Grab a big ball of play dough. Roll it out, or you know, just smash it down.
Stick a bunch of toy animals in the dough. Press really hard so the animals get stuck in there.
Have your kid rescue them by pulling them out.
If your animals are smaller, kids can use tongs or tweezers to make it more difficult.
You can also do this in reverse….
Let your kids roll out the play dough and get the animals stuck in the dough!
Lia really enjoyed pulling the animals out. I rolled out the dough again to let her press the animals into the dough herself.
I think she liked seeing the marks or tracks that the animals made. They’re wooden balancing animals, so they don’t make actual “tracks” like the plastic animals do, but my toddler didn’t mind!
Part Two: Puzzle-style Animal Rescue
Sticking our wooden balancing animals in sideways was perfect for creating a play dough animal puzzle.
This version was more my preschooler’s speed.
I rolled out the dough about half an inch thick (I recommend using a grown-up rolling pin for this step, not the kid’s one!) and then pressed the animals in facing up.
Elena, my 3-year-old, pulled the animals out one by one. She had to pull pretty hard to get them out because I stuck them in really good.
Pulling the animals out left animal-shaped imprints in the play dough.
I think you can guess what we did next.
Match the animals to their shapes and put them right back in!
You could do this same activity with any wooden puzzle you have. Our Melissa & Doug wooden puzzles are almost too easy for Elena because she just has to match the picture.
Working with a play dough puzzle removes the picture. She really has to rely on the shape of the imprint to figure out what piece goes where.
What We’re Learning
Play dough is always great for strengthening hand muscles and doing all kinds of fine motor work. It’s also great for filling kids’ need for sensory play.
With the animal rescue, we strengthened small motor muscles by pulling the animals that were stuck in the play dough.
My 18-month-old was interested in seeing what kind of marks she could make in the play dough with the animals.
Placing the animals in facing up made a fun play dough puzzle. Puzzles are awesome for helping kids exercise their critical thinking skills and problem solving.
Elena, my 3-year-old, was challenged to figure out not only which animal fit the imprint in the play dough, but which direction it was facing, too.
Your Turn to Do a Play Dough Animal Rescue and Puzzle
Grab some play dough (or make a fresh batch!), a rolling pin, and a bunch of toy animals and let’s keep your toddler busy!
You can feel good knowing they’re getting great screen-free entertainment and learning all while they play.
I hope this indoor play activity helps you and your kids have fun today.
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