The toddlers did some exploring with their five senses as we worked together to make tea infused Peach and Passion fruit play dough. The educators first encouraged the toddlers to use their sense of smell as the tea bags were removed from their sleeves and passed around the table. “What do you smell?” they asked. Emerson looked down at the sleeve and then lifted the tea bag to his nose, “I smell apples” he responded. “Me, I smell apples too!” said Danilo happily. The educators smiled and nodded their heads, “does the tea have a fruity smell? Let’s take a look at the picture it shows us that this tea is made with peaches and passionfruit, so the smell is a fruity smell” agreed the educator. The educator then placed the tea bags in boiling water, so that its contents could steep, and we watched as the water slowly turned from a clear to transparent peach colour. The next step was to measure out all the dry ingredients into a great big bowl. First, we measured the flour, then the salt and lastly the cream of tartar. We observed that these ingredients were all the same colour and When asked, Scarlett, Danilo, Emerson and Adrian all shouted excitedly, “white!” The bowl was passed around the table where all the toddlers were encouraged to mix and stir the dry ingredients together. Next it was time for the last few steps which included adding the oil, water infused tea and the loose leaves that were inside the bags into the dry ingredients. Then it was time to use our big muscles to continue mixing all the ingredients together!
As an extension to our tea infused peach and passion fruit Play dough activity earlier this month, the educators introduced a gluing activity that had the toddlers creating their own paper peaches by exploring what a peach looks like. We looked at some pictures of a peach and the educators helped us to describe it. We described it as being: round, like a circle and orange, pink, yellow in colour. The educator asked the children if they have ever eaten a peach before. The majority of the group either nodded or said yes. “Tart” said one of the children. The educator expanded on this and described the taste. Agreeing with tart, it can also taste sweet and is very juicy. We also described peaches as feeling fuzzy to the touch. Using our motor skills, we spread the glue all over our paper circle and then they were given tissue paper that was cut into circles, in different shades of colours like the colours we saw in the picture of peach, light pink, dark pink, yellow, orange, and peach colours. Lastly, the toddlers were encouraged to scrunch up some green tissue paper which would represent the peach’s leaf.
How to make tea infused play dough:
1 cup of flour
1/2 cup salt
2tbsp cream of tartar
1tbsp oil
1cup of boiling water
Tea bags (chose ones that make vibrant colours)
