on May 8th, 2012%
One of the ideas we had for our Screen-Free Week was to have a rummage around on our craft shelves to see if there were any long-lost art materials that we might like to try. We struck gold with two packs of air drying clay that Father Christmas had brought in the girls’ stockings and which had been put away in a post-Christmas tidy up and forgotten about.
Modelling with air drying clay
Have you used air drying clay before? It’s not too messy and quite easy for young children to use – my 5-year-old had no problem manipulating the clay into the shapes she wanted. The girls had wooden skewers and scissors to use to cut and make marks with but mostly just used their hands. The clay warms to the touch and is a great work out for fine motor skills. Read more »
on April 17th, 2012%
This month the Kids Art Explorers have been enjoying a No Paint Brushes Allowed project. Creativity is encouraged when you set aside your everyday materials and try something different.
The Kids Art Explorers celebrate the process of art: trying new things, having a go, being daring, making mistakes. We’re interested in how things turn out but much more focused on the fun we have along the way. Here’s a whole year’s worth of ideas for the fun you could have if you tried painting with something other than a paint brush. Read more »
on March 19th, 2012%
Nurturestore has lots of articles about fun play dough ideas but I though today I’d get back to basics with an easy play dough recipe master class. I’m often asked for a play dough recipe by people who are trying out home-made play dough for the first time, so I thought I’d post a step-by-step guide to my favourite no cook recipe. I’ve included some tips and tricks to answer the most common play dough crises and added in some fun ideas for you to try once you’ve mastered the basic play dough recipe to jazz it up a little! There’s also a link to my free Let’s Play Dough e-book.
Calling it a master class is very tongue-in-cheek: it’s a super easy recipe and even if you’ve never tried making your own play dough before I’m sure you’ll be able to whip up a cordon bleu version.
Easy play dough recipe master class Read more »
on February 27th, 2012%
Following on from our water bead science experiment, this week we’ve been enjoying some imaginative space play in our water bead sensory tub. With rockets, aliens and a lunar landscape the children have been stretching their imaginations and playing in a totally different world. Here’s how they took their water beads into outer space.
on January 26th, 2012%
Many of the play ideas I post here happen as a result of my children taking some everyday materials and experimenting. Having a well stocked making box (which really doesn’t mean lots of expensive art materials) and permission to help themselves to some of our kitchen supplies often leads to all sorts of creativity and learning. Today’s post is an example of how a fusion of two materials can produce lots of thinking about maths, dimensions, construction, creativity, roleplay and of course plenty of fun.
Play dough and cocktail sticks Read more »
on January 5th, 2012%
These photos were taken last week while L was painting and really remind me what art for children is all about. She had so much fun playing with the paint and was very focused on what she was doing. There was no chatting – which is unusual for L! – she was really in the moment, enjoying and creating. Read more »
|
Sign up here for all our play ideas
Sign Up for our Weekly Play Planner
Copyright Information Please feel free to use any of these ideas with your children at home, school or any place you teach and play. You are welcome to pin images from this site onto Pinterest so long as your pin links back to the original article here. If you would like to share a post on a blog or site, you may use one picture so long as you include a link to the original post. Please do not re-post the whole article or distribute printed-out content without written permission from the original author. You can contact me at cathy (at) nurturestore (dot) co (dot) uk. Thank you.
|
