Threading

Here is a simple threading activity which encourages young children with their very fine motor skills and hand eye coordination.
I presented my two year olds with some dry spaghetti strands, coloured pasta tubes, coloured cereal hoops and some straws, I joined it with this activity and so I could closely see what they were doing and how they were using the resources I supplied them with.
All 3 children instantly explored the materials picking up handfuls of pasta and cereal. My initial thought were that because of their young age they would use the pasta tubes to thread onto the spaghetti stands as they are larger in size and have a easier sized hole to thread onto the thin spaghetti but before long I was proved wrong!
They all picked up the hoops with their index finger and thumb (pincer grip) and carefully tried to thread them individually onto the spaghetti strand. What I observed was a lot of concentration and hand eye co ordination as at first they struggled to match the hole of the hoop up With the tips of the spaghetti strand, no one got gave up they all continued to keep trying and successfully achieved it once they had done it once they all went back for more hoops.
I later spotted one of the children pushing spaghetti into the straw she had already achieved one piece and was attempting to push another strand into the same straw, she eventually managed to get 4 whole strands in plus a few broken pieces too.
There was definitely more interest in the hoops and spaghetti than the pasta tubes and straws but the three of them all had a go exploring the different shapes and techniques whilst developing their fine motor skills for a good 30-45 minutes.

Mark making in mash potato flakes

Cover a tray with a thin layer of mash potato flakes (instant mash/smash) add a variety of different tools to mark make with. 

We used different brushes, feathers, lolly sticks and golf tees each tool will create different types of marks in the mash potato flakes. 

Perfect activity to encourage young children with their pre-writing marks and creativity over and over again. 

For older children you could also write letters or numbers in and get the child to read them to you for a number and letter recognition activity 

Lentil Play

I presented this simple tray filled with orange lentils to 3 children with just a few basic tools - 1 funnel 3 spoons and an ice cube tray.

They all dived in instantly scooping up the lentils using the spoons and tipping them off again listening to the calming sound they make as they hit the tray again 

One of the children then discovered the funnel, placed it on their lap and used the spoon to carefully transfer the lentil from the tray to the funnel, whilst one of the other children used the ice cube tray to divide the lentils into the individual sections, 

all the children were kept engaged in carefully transferring, tipping and pouring for quite some time taking turns to use different objects and skills, the lentils all help to develop those pre writing skills and the children use their fingers to mark make in the tray  leaving their marks.

Oats

Finger Painting

Finger Painting is a great way to introduce even the youngest of
 children to world of art 

use either shop brought finger paints, poster paints 
or 
make your own with this easy recipe 

2 cups of corn flour 
4 1/2 cups of Boiling water
2 cups of Cold water 
food colourings 

1. Mix the cornflour and COLD water together, 
2. Pour in the BOILING water until it forms a "gloopy" consistency, 
3. Separate into individual pots and then add the colouring 

Mess free mark making

A great way of mark making without the mess of paint or for those
children who don't like getting messy.

You will need;
Zip lock bags
cello-tape
food colouring
hair gel

1. Place 2-3 tablespoons of hair gel into the zip lock bags,
2. Add a few drops of food colouring
3. Seal the bags and cello tape then seal to ensure they can not be opened.

Gloop activities

Marbled Gloop  

Multi-coloured Gloop and Bugs 

Brown Gloop and dinosaurs

Gloop "milkshakes" filling cups with pink Gloop 

     

Coloured Shaving foam

Colour some shaving foam by adding food colourings of your choice this will make 

a marbling effect when presenting the activity. 

Who says feet aren't allowed to explore too.......

Scented mark making tray

Here's a another media to mark make in which can also stimulate the children's sense of smell, A great alternative to coloured salt or fine sand......

Angel Delight powders 

We used one tray of strawberry and one tray of butterscotch 

Simply line a tray with some tin foil and sprinkle the Angel Delight onto it, We then used different types of brushes and small craft match sticks to draw and writing with. 

Through out this activity we gradually discovered other tools which we could 

mark make with, these included Fingers, Hands and Golf Tees.

Water Painting on chalk boards

Chalk boards can be great but with younger children they allows seem to eat the chalks!! 

So why not let them be creative with water and a paintbrush instead