Elmer the Elephant Activity With Playdough

Last Updated on July 9, 2023 by Sheryl Cooper

Inside: Put together an Elmer the Elephant activity with playdough – a fun way to explore colors based on the favorite picture book!

I love creating activities based on favorite picture books!

When I purchased the book Elmer the Elephant by David McKee, I couldn’t wait to add it to our colors unit.

As I was planning ideas for our various centers, I found a variety of playdough colors in our preschool’s storage closet and wondered what would happen if I combined playdough and elephants?

CLICK HERE to find more playdough learning activities!

Elmer the Elephant Activity With Playdough

If you aren’t familiar with the book Elmer the Elephant, let me give you a little summary so you will understand this activity better.

Elmer is a friendly elephant with brightly colored patchwork on his skin.

He decides he doesn’t like standing out, that he would rather blend in with his grey elephant friends.

Elmer finds a way to change his appearance so that he looks just like his friends.

However, his friends don’t accept him once he tries to blend in and this makes him feel sad.

Eventually Elmer returns to his colorful self and embraces his differences.

His friends decide to embrace Elmer’s differences, painting themselves a variety of colorful patterns.

Working in the Three Dimensional

One of the reasons I thought about adding toy elephants to the playdough table is because over the years I’ve observed that my 2 and 3 year olds love to paint objects.

Some examples:

• Making Bear Tracks
• Painting and Washing Apples
• Bug Painting

There have been many times when I’ve provided a variety of small plastic animals to the playdough table, too, such as farm animals during our farm theme.

The children love being able to work around all sides of the object and it requires them to use both hands as they work.

MORE TO WATCH: Playdough Favorites in the Classroom (video)

Supplies:

• Elmer the Elephant book
• Different colors of Playdough
• Plastic elephants (I’ve collected them from thrift stores over the years, but there are these from Amazon)
• Playdough tools

Setting Up This Activity:

If you’ve been following me for awhile, you know I love simple.

And this activity is super simple to set up!

I put a placemat at each spot (laminated heavy paper) along with an elephant and balls of playdough.

I also propped the book in an acrylic page  holder, displaying the page with Elmer on it.

I love actually showing a page of the book when doing an activity related to it!

After reading Elmer the Elephant during circle time, I invited the children to make their own colorful elephants using the playdough.

And yes, they mixed the colors.

I know some teachers have a hard time with that, but it doesn’t bother me at all.

(And, quite honestly, I’m not sure I could have stopped it.)

The children started pressing the balls of dough in their palms, flattening them. (More good fine motor!)

They would talk about the different body parts of the elephant while sticking the playdough on them.

“I’m going to cover the elephant’s head.”

“I can stick the playdough on its tail.”

All in all this playdough activity was a fun extension of Elmer the Elephant!

CLICK HERE to find more picture book activities!

More Elmer the Elephant activities:

Sponge-Painted Elmer (Buggy and Buddy)

Elmer Suncatcher (Learning and Exploring Through Play)

Elmer Discovery Bottle (Teach Preschool)

Elmer Fine Motor Craft (The OT Toolbox)

Paper Patchwork Elephant (Little Ladoo)

Elmer the Elephant Sticker Activity (Days with Grey)