I mentioned in my Play-doh play mat post that I thought it would be fun to make a restaurant play mat. I’m staying away from Play-Doh this week because, after a brief respite, Johnny is back to stuffing it into his mouth at an alarming rate. Then I saw these great colour and cut out food sheets from Filth Wizardry, and I knew I wanted to make a restaurant play mat to go with them.
I used the usual butcher paper, traced a couple plates and one cup, and then painted around the edges (very fancy for me, but Emma was playing with bubbles in the sink, I had leftover tempera paint from her earlier painting activity, and Johnny was napping).
I printed out the food templates. They are well-drawn, easily recognized, and they have nice thick lines for young children to color within/cut out along.
Both Emma and Johnny had a blast coloring. Emma had a go at cutting out the food, but she’s just learning about scissors and got frustrated, so I finished up.
Once again, Johnny surprised me by playing with this mat for a good half hour. Either he has a particular affinity for mat activities, or he has suddenly developed an attention span. Either way, it’s great to see him having fun.
Emma played with the mat for quite a bit this afternoon, and then asked to get it out again in the evening.
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Salt dough is a good idea, thanks for the suggestion. I’ve often wished IKEA would offer all of their products for shipping. They offer some, but the shipping charges get calculated per order – no standard prices.
Have you tried using salt dough to get him to stop eating the play-doh?These play mats looks so great. Too bad we don’t have an IKEA around here so I could get these great supplies at a great price.
Yay! That’s terrific! So nice to see other kids playing with the stuff I’ve drawn. Make’s me keen to draw more now. Cool idea with the plastic mat too! I’ll be sure to show my kids the pics of your kids playing with the cut outs.