Objective

By the end of the lesson, the student will be able to create salt dough and use it to make a fun reading-related project, while also practicing reading and language arts skills.

Materials and Prep

Materials: Flour, salt, water, mixing bowl, measuring cups, rolling pin, cookie cutters, parchment paper, markers, and a baking sheet. Prep: Clear a workspace for the activity and gather all the materials.

Activities

1. Mix the flour, salt, and water to create the salt dough. 2. Roll out the dough and use cookie cutters to create shapes related to a favorite book or story. 3. Use markers to decorate the shapes and create characters or scenes from the story. 4. Place the shapes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake according to the salt dough recipe. 5. Once cooled, use the salt dough creations to retell the story or create a new story, practicing reading and language arts skills.

Second Grade Talking Points

• What is salt dough and what can we make with it? "Salt dough is a special kind of dough we can make at home using flour, salt, and water. We can use it to create fun shapes and figures, like characters from our favorite stories."
• Why is it important to follow the recipe? "It's important to follow the recipe so that the dough turns out just right and we can make cool things with it. It's like following the steps in a story to understand what happens."
• How can we use our salt dough creations to tell a story? "We can use the shapes we make to retell a story we've read or create a new story. It's like using our imagination and language skills to make our own book come to life!"