The change in seasons can be a dramatic one, depending on where you live. Here in Australia, Autumn (Fall) is during the months of March, April and May and we actually have very few deciduous trees (trees that loose their leaves) that are native to our country. We do have some, but they are far outnumbered by the evergreen trees, so when we see the change in colour and pops of red, orange and yellow appearing on trees, they really stand out against the all the green.

To further investigate the changes happening around us and to inspire learning and creativity, I set up this Autumn Leaf Investigation Table for my kids. At ages 4 and 7, I knew that their experiences were going to be different to one another and that materials and even expectations had to be open-ended and able to be used in a way that interested them and was appropriate to their levels.

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For today's painting activity I wanted something that my toddler (currently 17 months) and preschooler (4 years) could do together. I decided on some process art where instead of trying to achieve some sort of art work or "finished product" at the end, it was all just about the exploration of the provided materials and the results they could achieve with those.

In order to try and make it more about the process, I provided (I think for the first time ever!) only one single colour.

Ages: 6 months +

(See Handy Tips at the bottom to extend or simplify to suit your child's needs)

Materials: Paint, large paper, various painting tools.

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We just love playing and creating on a Sticky Easel. You can see how to make one here, they are so simple and yet so much fun! 

Today I set up a quick Invitation to Play with the sticky easel and ribbons and string.

Ages: 2-6+

(M is 3 years old here. See Tips at the bottom to simplify or extend to meet the needs of your child)

 Materials: Contact paper/Sticky-back plastic (the stuff you cover books with), sticky tape, string, ribbon, wool etc.

I provided the string/ribbon in different lengths. Some short, some long. 

Maddie got herself into a bit of a tangle here :)

We talked a lot about different lengths, patterns, colours, designs, weaving, manipulating and more while we played

Adding in different widths. Easy to talk about the contrast with children. 

"Wow, that is a thick ribbon. It is so much wider than the string" etc

Use ribbons and string to make letters, words, numbers, designs, pictures and so on.

Handy Tips:

- Simplify this activity by providing materials for sticking that are appropriate for your child. If strings provide a hazard for your child, be sure to supervise and/or switch for shorter lengths. Also, if sitting/standing at an easel won't work, try sticking the contact onto a baking tray and giving them that to play with on the floor.

- Extend this activity by having your child test the strength of the stickiness by trying to stick other objects from around the room on there. What weight or size becomes too much? Use the sticky easel for early literacy practice such as making letters, writing words etc.

-Ask questions to help connect their understanding and use vocabulary to give them words to describe what they're creating, eg. "That looks great, tell me about it" "What are you creating?" "Why did you choose that?" "How are you going to fill this space?" "I love how you've lined them all up in a row" etc.

- Listen to your child talk as they go through their experiences. This will help you determine where they are at with their learning, knowledge and understanding and help you to develop the activity (or future activities) to their level and interests.

Here are some more fun activities using contact paper

Craft Sticks and Straws on the Sticky Easel

15 Fun ways to use Contact Paper

15 MORE Fun activities with Contact Paper

Happy playing,
Debs :)

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Ever since seeing this fun post on Teach Preschool, I have been wanting to try a "Sticky Easel"

It's so easy, tape down some contact paper or sticky-back plastic (sticky side up), on an easel or any other surface, and let kids stick materials to their heart's content. The possibilities for learning, creativity and skill practice are wide and varied.

Ages: 2-6+

Materials: Contact paper/Sticky-back plastic (the stuff you cover books with), sticky tape, coloured craft sticks & straws

I set up the easel with the contact paper/sticky-back plastic and provided two tubs. 

Coloured craft sticks and cut-up recycled straws

There was no instruction necessary, she was straight into it after touching it for a bit

Working with small materials. Fine motor skills being practiced

Making a house and putting straw tiles on the roof

Even I was surprised by how long she sat there working away

"I love this" she declared and hugged the easel.

We had a lot of great discussion about her creation and her thought processes.

At about this stage she wanted more room so we popped them back in the containers and she started all over again.

We hope your kids enjoy it as much as we did and keep coming back to it over the week for a great progressive art/exploration.

Handy Tips:

- Simplify this activity by providing materials for sticking that are appropriate for your child. If cut up straws pose a choking risk, try keeping them at a longer length or switching them for other light-ish materials. Also, if sitting/standing at an easel won't work, try sticking the contact onto a baking tray and giving them that to play with on the floor.

- Extend this activity by having your child test the strength of the stickiness by trying to stick other objects from around the room on there. What weight or size becomes too much? Use the sticky easel for early literacy practice such as making letters, writing words etc.

-Ask questions to help connect their understanding and use vocabulary to give them words to describe what they're creating, eg. "That looks great, tell me about it" "What are you creating?" "Why did you choose that?" "How are you going to fill this space?" "I love how you've lined them all up in a row" etc.

- Listen to your child talk as they go through their experiences. This will help you determine where they are at with their learning, knowledge and understanding and help you to develop the activity (or future activities) to their level and interests.

Here are some more fun activities of ours using craft sticks

Make a simple Magic Door

Pipe cleaners, Craft sticks and Play dough. An invitation to play!

Free Play with Craft and Recycled Materials

Happy playing,
Debs :)

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So, you know all those little bits of dried up play dough that you are inevitably left with over time? Well, previously we've always just thrown them out, but today I thought that we could use them in an Invitation to Play and Explore

An invitation to play and explore is an activity where you've intentionally set out specific materials but left it up to the child to take the activity where they want to. It's an open-ended activity with no set outcome at the end.

This is what I set up for her to explore:

 A container of dried play bough bits, water in a squirter, a container with lid, an open container and a spoon

I thought she'd go for the water bottle first but it was all about transferring the dried play dough from one dish to another with the spoon.

She really loved squirting the water on the play dough

It didn't take much water for it to start feeling quite soft again. Slimy too!

Quite the sensory experience

There was one piece that would not soften regardless of how much she soaked it.

It was much harder than the other pieces and we concluded it must have been left out to dry for much longer than the rest.

She remember there was another container. Time to pour it all in there.

Mixing and Stirring and Watching

That right, and Shaking!

And Squeezing!

And Decanting.

The more water, the stickier it got! Ewwwww. Fun!

Handy Tips:

- The great thing about an open-ended invitation to play and explore is that you don't need to really simplify it for younger children. You can provide the same materials and let them explore within their own abilities.

- Extend this activity by offering a challenge once they've explored all they can. An example might be to challenge them to try and make the play dough feel like new/fresh play dough again. How could this be done? Talk about the difference between solids and liquids etc.

- I provided the water in a spray bottle to encourage my daughter to add the water more slowly. Had I given her a little jug of water it would have all been poured in at the very beginning and she would not have seen or experienced the play dough going through as many stages as she did. If you don't have a water bottle though, a small jug or bottle of water is fine.

- Talk to your child about what they are experiencing in order to develop their cognitive skills (thinking) and language development. Not to forget the important bonding that takes place between you both.

- Ask your child questions about what they are experiencing. Eg. "What does the play dough feel like now?" "What do you think it will feel like if you add more water?" etc.

- Mix it up by providing the same materials but also with a small tub of plain flour. See what happens!

Happy playing,
Debs :)

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What's an INVITATION TO PLAY?

An "Invitation to Play" is probably my favourite type of activity for children. Firstly, it is open ended. This means that there is no set outcome or end result that must be achieved. It also means that the child has the freedom to work at their own level and ability.

The most exciting thing about an invitation to play is not knowing exactly what the child is going to do. Obviously there are certain expectation you may have from the activity, such as practicing fine motor skills, demonstrating creativity, developing problem solving skills, language skills etc, but often the other areas of learning are unknown until the child is experiencing them... and children have a way of doing things that us as adults, never thought of or expected!

An "Invitation to Play"

Ages: 2-6+

(My 3 year old enjoyed this activity. See Tips at the bottom to simplify or extend to meet your child's needs) (Just remember to supervise the use of the small beads with younger children)

Materials:  Playdough, pipe cleaners and beads

 I hadn't provided enough materials. Apparently a rolling pin is essential! (Well, for what she wanted to do anyway)

 "Look Mummy, I made YOU!" Don't I look lovely?

 Threading beads on pipe cleaners is a little fiddly

 

 You had to hold your hands and manipulate your fingers in so many different ways

 Proud of the threading she did

Ok, I admit I couldn't resist having a little play too

 Madeline, on the other hand, thought that making a "nest" to pour all the beads into was the way to go

 And the nest should have... a lid!

 Goodbye nest and beads! Where have they all gone?

Ah-ha! There they are :)

Time for some abstract art

Handy Tips:

- Simplify this activity by using a larger size of bead so avoid choking hazards or to suit developing fine motor skills.

- Extend this activity by exploring letters, numbers, patterns and colours. Sort the pipe cleaners and beads into categories. Use them to create pictures. Use them to make letters or numbers in the playdough etc.

- Problem Solving. Make your child aware of the problem solving involved. "How are you going to find all the beads now?" "How will we get them all out?" "How can you keep the beads on the pipe cleaner?" etc

- Use a pipe cleaner or chopstick end to push the playdough out of the beads so they can be reused

- Talk with your child about what they are doing. This will help them understand the physical and mental processes they are going through as well as giving them the vocabulary to describe it.

- Use new language and descriptive words like, "threading." This will help with their language development.

- Supervise your child when using small items such as beads.

More Invitations to Play

Dried Playdough and Water

Boxes and Tools

Pipe cleaners, Craft sticks, Playdough and Animals

Happy playing,
Debs :)

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On top of the sensory experience, this playdough imprinting activity also encourages development of fine motor skills, language skills, processes, exploration and textural differences. All important for children learning about the world around them.  

Ages: My 3 year old loved this activity but it's suitable for toddlers through to school age.

 Materials: Playdough and a variety of different materials collected from around your house that will create different textures and patterns.

I set it out here as an Invitation to Play.

 Imprinting with Rubberbands, Pipecleaner, Comb and strip of Packing material (polystyrene wrap)

 Imprinting with Beaded Necklace, Bubblewrap, Duplo brick, Foam

 Straight into it

 Realising that it should be flat first

 It made a slight fuzz texture and the rectangular shape. She wasn't all that impressed

 How about the duplo?

 One side looked like that. What about the other side?

 Oooh, this looked cool! We noticed how the thin yellow playdough appeared green on top of the blue mat

 We assumed this one would just come out with holes in it. The extra textures inside the holes was unexpected and delightful. She noticed each one was different. These were due to the creases

 The beads made different prints depending on how they were pressed into the playdough

 Because of how thin this material way, the biggest imprint was from fingers!

 Here we talked about grooves and ridges. It also made dots. Very cool

 This left quite a fuzzy texture and she noted the imprint could be in any shape she desired

 I wasn't expecting her to put the rubber band on like this

 She enjoyed looking at and touching the variety of patterns and textures. They were all so different

 Ask your child, which was their preferred/favourite pattern/texture. Why?

 Then I sent her on a hunt to find things around the house that she wanted to test the pattern and texture of. This is what she returned with.

 So many exciting and varied prints. The ideas that came to mind from this were endless...

How else can you play with these materials?

Handy Tips:

- Extend this activity by asking your child to predict what they think the imprint will look like. What different textures and patterns can they achieve with the same material?

- Create a picture or pattern using the different indentations from various materials

- Use new language and descriptive words like, "textures," "grooves," "ridges," "indentations" etc This will help with their language development.

-Ask questions to help connect their understanding using vocabulary to give them words to describe what they're experiencing, eg. "What pattern do you think this will leave?" "What shapes can you see on this material?" "What would happen if you pressed the other side in the playdough?" "How could you make a different texture with this material" etc

- Listen to your child talk as they go through their experiences. This will help you determine where they are at with their learning, knowledge and understanding and help you to develop the activity (or future activities) to their level and interests.

- Repeat. This activity can be repeated time and time again with a different end result each time. Mix around and change some of the materials that you provide each time to inspire new ideas


Debs :)

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