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The Rainbow Fish Play Dough Activity

The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister inspired activity - using play dough and sequins to re-create the story

The Rainbow Fish Play Dough Activity was inspired by the book The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister (affiliate link). This book is certainly one of our most favourite stories as it teaches children about friendship and the concept of giving and sharing. It is also a wonderful way to introduce children the letter ‘F’ for fish.

The Rainbow Fish Play Dough Activity is a great follow on activity to extend the learning and understanding of the story. It creates an opportunity to develop conversations, a story re-tell and develop fine motor skills.

What you will need?

invitation to play with the rainbow fish story book and play dough with sequins

You will need, The Rainbow Fish Book by Marcus Pfister, rolling pins, coloured sequins, fish shaped cookie cutters and The Rainbow Fish Play Dough Recipe.

Let’s Play

The Rainbow Fish Inspired play dough activity

Some Ideas:

  • Create patterns with colour, for example, one row of red scales followed by 1 row yellow scales, red scales, and yellow scales and so on.
  • Create a fish stack by placing the play dough fish on top of each other. See how high you can make the fish stack?
  • Place the sequins (scales) flat on the play dough fish or stand them up on their side.
  • Place all the play dough fish in a row and count them out loud.
  • Set a challenge: how many sequins can you fit on your play dough fish. Count them! Count all the red sequin scales, now count all the blue?
  • Hide the sequins inside the play dough and see how many you can find?

Let’s Learn

The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister inspired play dough activity

Learning Opportunities

  • Creativity & Imagination
  • Fine Motor Development
  • Hand-Eye Coordination and Control
  • Cause and Effect
  • Concentration
  • Measurement and maths concepts: experimenting with size, space and area.
  • Language development
  • Problem Solving – overcoming challenges
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister Inspired Play Dough Recipe

The Rainbow Fish Play Dough Recipe

Click here to view The Rainbow Fish Play Dough Recipe

Click here for more PLAY DOUGH activities & play ideas

Click here for more BOOK INSPIRED activities & play ideas

1 thought on “The Rainbow Fish Play Dough Activity”

  1. Thanks for posting this idea! My daughter’s PreK will be reading this book this week, and since we are doing this virtually this gives me a idea on how to expand on this story at home. It’s a great story and a good one to get your little ones to absorb.

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Hi and welcome to Learning 4 Kids!

Hi and welcome to Learning 4 Kids!

My name is Janice and I am an Early Childhood Teacher in Australia.

I have a strong passion and love for teaching and creating meaningful learning experiences for my students. What I love most is watching children discover in those amazing light bulb moments. I hope Learning4kids brings you some useful ideas.

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