My daughter loves snipping so I thought I'd give her some more cutting practice

with this "Invitation to Create" Contact Paper Cuffs.

This activity is also great for encouraging creativity, problem solving and fine motor skills. 

Ages: 2+

(See the Handy Hints at the bottom for ideas to Simplify and Extend to suit your child)

Materials: Contact Paper (Sticky back plastic), variety of paper, sequins (optional), scissors

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How to make a simple paper plate colour wheel with toddlers.

This simple activity will promote the learning of colours and encourage literacy and fine motor skills.

To extend this activity to include other learning areas such as division and colour mixing, see the tips section below the pictures.

Divide a paper plate into as many different colour segments as you wish and label with the different colours. 

Use words or letters depending on your focus and write them in the corresponding colour.

 

Provide paper in the various colours to be glued on in a collage style

I provided the paper already ripped and separated into the various colours. We used different shades of the same colour to talk about "light and dark" colours.

Some tips:

- To simplify this activity for younger children who are still learning colour names, try separating a plate into 3 segments for the Primary Colours (Red, Blue and Yellow) before adding in Secondary colours.

- To extend this activity, bring numeracy skills into the mix by having your child help with the division of the segments on the plate. You could also have the child rip or cut up the paper themselves OR even have them paint the paper themselves and do the colour mixing to make the secondary colours.

- For an added challenge, have your child practice sorting by mixing all the coloured paper pieces together at the start and then encourage them to sort into the different colours.

- Attach a cardboard arrow to the centre of the plate with a split pin to use the colour wheel for games. Eg, spin the arrow and then find something around the house that's the same colour as the arrows pointing to.

- Use pictures cut out of a magazine instead of coloured paper. Have your child separate the pictures into the different colours and stick on.


Debs :)

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Collage is a great way for kids to develop their fine motor skills and get creative.

Here we used just 2 colours of tissue paper* and practiced ripping into small pieces and pasting them on.

We used a simple but recognisable shape (a flower) and focused on trying to stay within the lines and fill the gaps appropriately.

 Pasting in certain areas

Choosing the right pieces and trying to keep in the lines



Some tips:
- Take the time to talk about the shape. What is it? Where do you see this shape? etc. Talk about how you drew it or perhaps help the child draw it.
- Extend this activity by using more shapes or colours. Have the child cut or rip the tissue paper themselves.
- Simplify the activity by ripping or cutting the paper yourself and having your child do the pasting.
- Some children need more encouragement than others. If all your little boy will do is play cars, then make your collage a car shape etc. Let them choose the colours they'll use etc.

*We used tissue paper this time but obviously you can use any type of paper you have... some will be more difficult to rip/cut than others

Debs :)

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