Make a set of rainbow peg dolls for small world play with lots of open-ended possibilities.
Being a huge fan of wooden toys, I’d been eyeing up these Rainbow Peg Dolls from Grimm’s Toys
on Amazon. They’re gorgeous but a little on the pricey side so I decided to have a go at making our own but for a much cheaper price and I’m so glad I did! We’re now the proud owners of six little coloured peg dolls and they have already had so much play and fun in the short amount of time since making them.
I managed to source six wooden peg dolls on eBay for around £5 (I just typed in ‘wooden peg dolls’ and quite a few different results came up) and I used our trusty Wilton Food Colouring Gels
to dye them. At first I was a little dubious that the gels wouldn’t be pigmented enough to dye the wood properly but I needn’t have worried as they created a light but colourful effect.
First of all I gently sanded the peg dolls to make sure they were smooth and safe for play. I then filled six glasses with water and mixed in the food gel to each one. I only used a small dot which was plenty to dye the dolls with.
In went the little people! They do bob back up to the surface which is easily remedied by weighing them down with a teaspoon to make sure they all get evenly coated.
I left the dolls to soak all afternoon and overnight (about 16 hours in total). I removed them and sat them on some kitchen paper to dry off for another hour or two and then they were done!
I would recommend rubbing on some oil such as olive oil or beeswax to seal the colour and give them a shine but this is just optional.
We’re over the moon with how they turned out!
4 Fun Ways with peg dolls
Here’s a few ways you could use your rainbow peg dolls…
Skittles:
S (2.4yrs) actually came up with this one during her independent play. She lined the dolls up and used her wooden ball to roll and knock them over.
Colour exploration:
We used our coloured stacking cups to sort the peg dolls as well as some glass pebbles into the right colours.
Small world scenes:
The peg dolls are perfect for adding into small world play scenes. Because they have no outfits or distinguishing features, they can be used in a much more open-ended way.
Loose Mathematics Parts:
They can simply be used as loose parts for counting and sorting.
If you make this craft do leave a comment or come over to the Wings and Roots Facebook page and share a picture of your finished rainbow dolls!
{Affiliate links are added to help you find the same or similar resources to the ones we use. Thank you so much for your support}