A fun and different way to encourage creativity through drawing is by mixing up the drawing tools and using different mediums as your base. Here we explored the use of highlighters on bubble wrap.

Such a quick and easy activity to set up. 

You will need: Highlighters, bubble wrap and plain paper

Setting up your "Invitation to Play" I put a piece of plain paper underneath the bubble wrap to make visibility easier.

 Noticing straight away that the plasticy surface of the bubble wrap allows ink to sit on top. It isn't absorbed like with paper

 Because of the see-through nature of the bubble wrap, Maddie kept checking underneath to see if the ink was on the paper

She insisted on continuing until ever part of the bubble wrap was covered

Design done. Now what?

Flip it over, rub over the other side and take off. Maddie was impressed.

Examining the patterns. Talk about why some parts are darker/lighter. Why did some parts work and not others? Which colour showed up the best? etc

Try drawing actual designs and printing those. You can reuse the same bubble wrap over and over.

 Prints can work really well

You're a star

Handy Tips:

- Simplify this activity by just letting your child draw and be creative. Demonstrate printing and what can happen when they flip over the bubble wrap.

- Extend this activity by using to talk about other concepts such as symmetry. Try writing letters or numbers on the bubble wrap and see what happens to them when flipped over and printed. Challenge their problem solving. Can they find any letters of the alphabet that are the same when printed? etc

- 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, "absorb," "symmetry" etc.  This will help with their language development.


- Remember that children need to create and explore, they don't need it to be a specific item at the end or to have drawn a specific picture. Allow this and don't push them to think they must make something "real." 






Happy playing,
Debs :)

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For this fun and easy activity we split it into 2 segments. Painting the crown with water colour paints and cut out sponge shapes and after it dried, adding the decorations.

We used 2 pieces of cardboard to "measure" around Maddie's head and then I cut them to size, stapled the 2 pieces together and cut the points out.

The idea was to do sponge prints on the crown with water colour paints 

 However, she decided she'd rather paint the whole thing using a sponge piece

 When the crown was dried, it was time to decorate! Together we talked about what "embellishments" she'd like on her crown and set them out for her.

Using fine motor skills to peel stickers off a sheet and stick them on.

 Gluing

 Glittering!!

The crown all finished and ready for imaginative play!

Some tips:

- This is an easy activity for kids of all ages and you can decorate however you please with whatever you have on hand.

- To extend this activity, have your child do the measuring of their head and the cutting of the crown points.

- Talk about what you are doing with your child. Use new language and descriptive words like, "embellishments" This will help with their language development.

- Repeat the activity as many times as you like using different crafty ways to decorate each time.

- Once your crown is finished, use it for imaginative play. We have a whole set of them in our "fantasy tub" next to our dress up box.

- Further extend this activity by finding and reading together books about Kings, Queens, Princesses and Princes. A favourite series at our house is, "Little Princess" by Tony Ross.

Debs :)



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