A Play-dough Breakfast

I was sitting at the play-dough table with one of the boys and he wanted to make breakfast. He’s from Sweden and is just starting to learn English. I’m using the play-dough to expand his vocabulary. Two weeks ago, he asked me to help him make something. I decided out of the blue to make eggs and he enjoyed seeing the different sized eggs. I started with eggs the size of a fingertip and each time, he’d say, “bigger bigger!” The biggest one ended up being the size of a baseball. After all the eggs were made, he started counting and made it up to 13. He was able to make it up to seven by himself and then we finished counting together. Another boy came over and started making snakes. We ended up cracking the eggs, breaking them apart and rolling out snakes until it was time to clean up.

Then this past week, we really got into making breakfast. He asked me to come over and make something with him, but he asked for the eggs this time. I started with a small egg again and he of course asked for a bigger one. Then a boy next to us started talking about Dunkin Donuts. I asked the boys if they liked donuts and they excitedly said yes. Then I asked if I should make more eggs and he said, “no, a dunkin.” I said, “you mean a donut?” Then he said, “yeah, a donut!” I made my first donut and then as usual, he asked for bigger. I made a few more donuts and he’d count them after each new one was made. I decided that we needed more food for breakfast and made pancakes. I knew pancakes are his favorite since he brings them all the time for lunch. He got excited and I made two pancakes. He repeated the word pancakes. I asked what he liked to drink with breakfast. He didn’t know what I meant so I asked if he liked tea, milk or juice. He said, “juice.” So I made a little cup out of play-dough which he took and put with the rest of his breakfast. It was clean up time, but I’m hoping to make more play-dough creations with this boy before he leaves this month. I’m also hoping to see him make some creations of his own. He’s come a long way since the spring when he first arrived.