Play-dough Candy Shop/Bakery

Today, I had fun making food with play-dough. This time, we decided to make candy instead of breakfast. When I sat down at the play-dough table, the little boy from Sweden who I made Breakfast with last time came over and sat on my lap. Since I wanted him to make his own creations, I offered him a chair and then he started making cookies. We had a sun cookie cutter and an oval one. He had trouble rolling the dough out with a rolling pin, but that was because it was a huge ball and because the play-dough was a little dry after being a week old. He’d ask for help and I’d get the dough flat. Then he’d take over pressing the cookie cutter into the play-dough and then cutting around the cookie cutter making perfect sun and oval cookies. I wish I had pictures of this!

Next, I asked him what I should make and since we had been talking about cookies, I started making desserts. I started with an ice cream cone. I made the triangle for the cone and then a small oval with a flat side for the ice cream. Since the play-dough was dry, it didn’t fit together that well, but he put it in his pile next to the cookies. I asked him if he knew what it was. He said no and I explained it was an ice cream cone. One purpose for making all of these things is to practice English with him. We usually talk about food while working with the play-dough, but if there are shapes, animals and other things for cookie cutters, we practice those words as well. He repeated the words ice cream cone and then I thought of making candy. M&M’s came to mind so I made two tiny M&M’s. I asked him again if he knew what this was. He said no and then I told him what they were and asked if he liked them. He repeated the word, M&M’s and then said that yes, he liked them. He asked me to make bigger M&M’s. I got a bigger piece of play-dough and made an M&M that was the size of three or four M&M’s put together. He loved that and put it in his pile of desserts.

Since it’s close to Halloween, I made a candy corn. He didn’t know the name for that either, but I told him it was a candy corn and that it’s Halloween candy. He put it in his pile after repeating, “Candy corn.” I started making a pumpkin, but it was turning out shaped more like a Hershey’s kiss so I went with it and asked if he knew what this was shaped like. He didn’t know, but I told him it was a Hershey’s kiss. He repeated it again and then asked what it was made out of. I explained that it was made from chocolate and he was very interested! He added it to his pile of desserts.

Then I made a cupcake by making a small ball, flattening the top and bottom and then making another small ball and smoothing it into the top to look like frosting. I wish I had different colors of play-dough so it looked like the actual foods. I started to make a donut, but realized I didn’t have enough play-dough so I asked his friends at the table. They gave me some, but the donut wasn’t coming out right so I asked him for more ideas. I asked what else he liked for food and he yelled, “Hamburgers!” Meanwhile, he was working on making big pancakes. I made the bottom bun which was flat, a smaller round piece for the meat, a small square piece for the cheese and I showed him my progress by showing him each piece and labeling them; the bun, meat, cheese etc. Before I could start on the top bun, he got excited and put the unfinished burger in his pile. Then he asked me for a hot dog so I took what little play-dough I had left and made the outside role and then a tiny hotdog. He said, “No, no, no, that’s not big.” I took some more play-dough and made another bigger hotdog which he really liked. He pretended to eat some of his food and then it was time to clean up. It was a lot of fun making more play-dough creations.

I found out from his mother that he asked her if he could come to my house sometime. I joked about that with him the other day, but he really took it seriously and now asks me about it everyday. He said something about going home and I thought he was talking about going home to his house, but then he said that he wanted to come to my house and that’s how it got started. I told him he could come to my house any time! I’ve written a lot of details here that probably won’t matter to anyone but me. His last day with us is on the 22nd of October and I write about some of my favorite kids so that I can keep the memories of the short time that I have with them. It’s interesting that the kids I’ve worked with for two years are less attached to me than the ones I’ve worked with for a few months or is it that I'm more attached to them? It's my luck or bad luck depending on how you look at things. A new kid will come to the center who I’ll bond with and then I find out they have to leave. It’s happened a few times and even though it’s hard to see them go, I’m thankful that I’ve known them.