Five Little Ducks Play Dough

How to make five little ducks play dough, as a fun nursery rhyme themed sensory and imaginative play idea for kids.

I just found these five little ducks play dough photos from last year, and realised I haven’t shared them with you yet! Bee was a 2 year, 9 month old toddler then, and loved helping to make these play dough ducks, singing along to the five little ducks nursery rhyme as we went. Afterwards, she helped the little ducks waddle over the hills and far away, out of sight of their ever-quacking mother duck.

In case you’re not familiar with the nursery rhyme, here is how it goes:

Five little ducks went out one day
Over the hills and far away
Mother Duck said ‘Quack, Quack, Quack, Quack’
And only four little ducks came back.

Four little ducks went out one day…..
(and so on until)
…And none of the five little ducks came back.

So sad Mother Duck went out one day
Over the hills and far away
Mother Duck said ‘QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK’
And all of her five little ducks came back.

(Note: the products we used in this activity were purchased locally. I’ve added some affiliate^* links to similar products below. Thanks.)

You could use store-bought yellow and white play dough if you wish, but we made our own using our go-to no-cook play dough recipe from The Imagination Tree, adding yellow food colouring to most of the dough, leaving just a small part white (for the mother duck).

We then added:

• beaks, made from diamond shapes cut out from orange craft foam sheets
• medium googly eyes for the ducklings, and large eyelashed googly eyes for the mother duck
• assorted feathers
• green bowls to act as ‘hills’
• and a healthy dose of imagination. 🙂

Bees favourite part was choosing and sticking in the feathers. She didn’t always stick the feathers in the ‘correct’ places, which she (and I) thought was hilarious.

(Please note: some of the items used in this activity could be a choking hazard for young toddlers still in the mouthing phase. All kids activities on this blog require attentive adult supervision. Parents and carers will need to judge whether a particular activity is appropriate their child’s age and skill level. Click here for more info.)

Check out these other Five Little Ducks ideas from my blogging friends and I.

• Five Little Ducks Pool Noodle | Adventures of Adam
• Five Little Ducks Egg Carton Craft | Messy Little Monster
• 5 Little Ducks: Play and Learn Felt Number Fun | Crafty Kids at Home
• Five Little Ducks Finger Puppets | Teach Me Mommy
• Five Little Ducks Rubber Glove Puppets | Danya Banya (that’s us!)

Or you can find loads more Nursery rhyme ideas here, as well as on our special nursery rhyme time Pinterest board.

^* This post contains affiliate link(s). An affiliate link means I may earn advertising / referral fees if you make a purchase through my link, without any extra cost to you. It helps to keep this little blog afloat. Thanks for your support.