Rainbow Playdough Color Sorting

Playdough is one of our favorite materials and as you will see I rarely use homemade stuff. I love real Play-Doh especially the smell. So we bought the real stuff (although homemade would work just as easily) and made a simple multi-sensory color sorting activity. This playdough color sorting activity works on color and shape recognition, fine motor skills and counting.  It’s also easy to set up and fun.

1. Gather your materials. You will need play-doh in various colors. We did the rainbow but any combination of colors would work. You will also need some buttons, wood shapes, pony beads, or other small items in the same or very similar colors.
2. Set up your play-doh. I used half a canister for each color.
3. Invite your little genius to come match up some colors. My daughter was into it immediately. She loves pushing small things into play-doh so I knew she would be into this. I was still happy she was enjoying herself. 
4. Adding the small items works on color matching, shape recognition, and of course, fine motor skills too. While they add the items, try narrating their actions saying things like “You found the blue circle!” and “You added the red star to the red play-doh.” If you are new to narrating, it can feel a little odd but it really helps toddlers and preschool-aged kids with vocabulary and it prompts conversation. Older kids will let you know when it’s no longer welcome, trust me.
5. When she was done with adding the buttons and beads, she counted each color. When we were done, she helped me take the items out and put the play-doh away.

 Books To Check Out

These Books About Colors are my very favorite and all go so well with this activity whether you choose to match up one color or the whole rainbow.

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Want more great ideas for preschool activities? Check out our Build Preschool Thematic Curriculum Units!