Instead of having students make the busy books at the end of the Piaget Relational Concepts lesson, I created this Piaget based Play-doh mats project. In doing so, I found students to be just as engaged, if not more so, the projects were a lot neater and overall, found it was a more interactive and creative assignment that reinforced the relational concepts! It’s a keeper!

Set

• Teach the Piaget Relational Concepts lesson, but instead of assigning the Busy Book project, I introduced the Play-do Mats assignment.

Materials

• Click the link to see the materials required for the actual Piaget lessons
• Play-doh–Various Colors (Store Bought or Homemade)
• Markers & Colored Pencils & Crayons
• White Copy Paper
• Construction Paper
• Lamination Capabilities
• iPads or Laptops for inspiration only

Activities

• Before assigning the Play-doh Mat project to my students, I share an example with them (see below).
• I go over the guide sheet with students so they know exactly what they will be required to do.
• Students select their theme from a list and then begin brainstorming their ideas.
• First they must design and sketch their colorful mat and manipulative/ interactive ideas.
• Before students work on their relational concept prompts, I conference with them to discuss their ideas. If they are struggling, we brainstorm and they continue to design. Once approved, students move onto writing their prompts.
• After writing their relational prompts, students again conference with me to make sure they are on the right track.
• Students then draw and color their designs on white copy paper and type up their relational prompts. Students glue their design boards only to construction paper. I laminate them and add a hole punch to the upper left corner, securing with a metal ring.
• At this point in the project, students swap design boards and relational prompts and actually complete the directives. Students peer edit each others prompts for spelling, clarity and suggestions that might improve the activities.
• Students make edits to their “final” copy which gets glued to construction paper and laminated.
• Optional: We donate the play-doh mats to our local daycare. It’s just a little way that we can give back to our community!

Attachments

• Piaget Based Play-doh Mat Sample (PDF)
• Piaget Based Play-doh Mat Guide Sheet (PDF)
• Play-doh Mat Peer Evaluation (PDF)
• Play-doh Mat Themes (PDF)