Purim Play: Invitation to Create Wooden Peg Dolls with Loose Parts

For quite a while, I'd had a plan to set up a pop-up loose parts station for the boys to design and create their own wooden peg dolls. We use a lot of my handcrafted wooden peg dolls in small world play, storytelling and even on our Nature Table. The boys love creating materials and toys that we use in their play and the implementation of my longstanding idea finally came to fruition in time for Purim. We've made Purim puppets here before and lo and behold, great minds think alike because I also saw that S was making a set of wooden peg doll Purim characters at school this year. You could definitely set this up to specifically create the characters from the Purim story (or any other story for that matter). I decided, however, that I wanted it to be really open ended and let the boys decide what to create.

When setting up your pop-up loose parts station to create wooden peg dolls, you can include any of the following you have on hand or add in/swap in other items:

• wooden peg dolls (I bought these on Amazon, but you can also find them at craft supply stores or use the old fashioned wooden clothespins).
• sequins
• wool roving in a variety of colors
• tissue paper squares
• fabric scraps
• washi tape
• markers
• tacky glue
• scissors

Some other ideas you might add/sub in include:

• ribbon, lace scraps, rickrack
• small buttons, gems, beads
• yarn/string
• colored/patterned paper
• paint
• felt scraps
• small google eyes
• stickers

The boys each had such creative ideas. I gave very little instruction and truth be told--I came downstairs later the morning we had this set up so my husband was the one who was with them at the beginning! Each of them did make an adorable little peg doll. I drew eyes on the peg dolls in advance and you can do the same or leave them untouched. S created a peg doll that is also a character from Paw Patrol (and has some corresponding fabric wings). Y created his own blue haired little wooden baby. And S also used some materials to make little doll "towels." It was so cute and fun to watch them explore and create. We added the finished and dried products to our dolls and dollhouse accessories and they have been integrated into play and storytelling here. The boys feel such pride when their art is put to use, and not merely displayed.

It is really fun to keep this activity open ended like we did, but it can also be tailored to a theme. Some other ideas to adapt this activity include:

• family/class wooden peg doll self portraits--create your own mini-me
• peg dolls to go along with a fairy tale or favorite story
• wooden peg dolls using natural loose parts (leaves, flowers, acorn caps--perfect for a fairy house or garden!
• holiday themed peg dolls

Happy Playing!