Bug Fossils | A Play Dough Invitation

Bug activities are still going strong at our house. In fact our bug box is still out and getting used by the boys almost every day. I have to admit I’m amazed. I don’t think they’ve ever stuck with a sensory bin that long. I guess they really love bugs! Our most recent bug activity is BUG FOSSILS, in play dough of course and I have to share it with you.

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This Bug Fossils activity is so simple it probably needs no explanation. I’m sure the pictures will do most of the talking. Here’s whats involved.

Supplies for Play Dough Bug Fossils:

Brown Play Dough
Safari Insects Toob
Magnifying Glass
Tweezers or Tongs
Rolling pin and/or other play dough tools

We make our own play dough using THIS recipe. It’s one of our go-to play dough recipes. The texture can’t be beat! It lasts a really long time when stored properly & you can color it whatever color you like using food coloring or liquid water colors. I really never have a reason to buy store bought play dough any more.

I like to present materials like this to the kids in some organized way, usually on some kind of tray so it looks really inviting. Given these supplies, kids will pretty much figure out a way to play with this on their own. Rolling out the play dough is not required but it’s fun. In fact when I first called them over the play they just dug right in.

The boys were enthralled with the prints the different bugs made in the play dough. They loved inspecting the bugs & the “fossils” with their magnifying glasses.

My three year old made a game out of extracting bugs from play dough using the tweezers. He loved it when I would get the bugs “stuck in the mud” and he would have to rescue them with the tweezers. It turned out to be a good workout for his little hands. Using those tweezers takes lots of concentration and hand eye coordination.