You know what my kids love? DIRT. And also anything that involves dirt- Tractors (move dirt), bugs (live in the dirt) mud (that’s just a given). Monster trucks just naturally fit into this area, too. But there are actually days that I don’t want them to go play in the dirt. This activity was made for days like that!
This post contains affiliate links
Supplies
- Monster trucks (you may have to dig them out of the dirt…or just buy a few new ones)
- Toy cars
- Salt dough
- Brown food coloring
We used a basic salt dough recipe (1 cup of salt, 2 cups of flour, one cup of water) and added brown food coloring to make it look like mud. To make the dough, mix all ingredients together and knead until smooth. While salt dough isn’t my favorite kind of dough (it is not nearly as smooth and long-lasting as my favorite play dough recipe), it can be made in a matter of minutes and is still tons of fun.
This hunk of dough was the real star of our pretend play scene! My son started making a mountain of it right away!
And that began his monster truck rally!
We had a whole lot of fun including a TON of dramatic play! I could barely stop myself from taking at least 100 pictures (I’ll spare you all the full set!), but I totally love hearing him act out play scenes and this was a fun one!
Pretend play is an important part of early childhood experiences. They allow children to act out and solve their own problems, develop confidence, provide freedom of expression and help build confidence! If your child has a hard time coming up with their own pretend play, try setting up a simple scene like this that will spark their interest!
Now that we experienced a fun pretend play opportunity with these trucks, I will try to build on that interest through ought the week by coming up with learning activities involving monster trucks. This YouTube video is a great start!
More Pretend Play Ideas from the Early Childhood Education Team #TeachECE
Bakery Pretend Play Printables for Counting by Life Over C’s
Pretend Play in Preschool: How to be a Scientist! by The Preschool Toolbox Blog
Pretend Play: Amazon Fulfillment Center by Growing Book by Book
Pretend Play Fishing Alphabet Activity by Mom Inspired Life
Detective Pretend Play by Capri + 3
Farmer’s Market Preschool Theme Pretend Play by Learning 2 Walk
Exploring Numbers 0-10 Pretend Garden Meal by Tiny Tots Adventures
DIY Farm Pretend Play Mat by The Educators’ Spin On It
This is awesome! My son doesn’t like playdough, but he might like it if we played with cars with the playdough!
This looks like a lot of fun! I really like how you added the rocks to the pretend play idea.