If your child is anything like my child, then the idea of experimenting and playing with real ingredients is very appealing.
This activity has a couple of different elements to it and therefore practices many skills and provides many opportunities for learning.
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| Squishy gooey fun = learning! |
From pouring, measuring and mixing to squeezing, drawing, creating and playing, this super sensory activity could keep them entertained (and learning) for ages!
Using whatever quantity of plain flour you'd like to give them, combine enough water to make a gooey but not too runny, paste. This is a good time to allow your child to experiment.
Once the flour paste was ready we divided it into separate ziplock bags and added a different colour into each bag. (We used a small amount of paint but food colouring would be good too)
Once you've added the colour, seal the bag and then let your child play with and manipulate the bag until the colour is mixed through.
Our 2 bags are ready for use.
Snip off a small corner of one of the bags and let your child pipe to their hearts content
Practicing drawing lines
Listen to your child as they experiment and talk with them about what they are doing. Here my daughter was creating "little ponds and rivers that flowed into each other".
After a long play with the blue colour and after swishing it into a gigantic "pond" it was time to add another colour.
We talked about the contrast the colours made and she observed how the pink smoothed out across the blue paste easier than straight on the paper.
Time to swirl the colours together.
Talk about how it feels on their hands and between their fingers.
Look at how it stretches and falls onto the paper. Whoops, the paper got a hole in it, why?
Handy Tips:
- To get the right consistency for the flour paste will take a bit of experimenting. Encourage them to add the water slowly and keep mixing so as not to add too much.
- To add the colour we used a small amount of paint but you could use food colours or whatever you have on hand.
- To simplify this activity, cut out the amount of processes your child participates in. Perhaps just provide them with the bags readymade and let them squeeze it out OR instead of squeezing, just provide them with the flour paste to play with
- To extend this activity talk about colour mixing when adding the colour to the bags. The red paint turned the flour paste pink because of the white base etc. Try adding two colours to one bag to see the colours combine and learn which colour they create. Try making a couple of different consistencies and see what difference that makes.
- When talking with your child, listen to what they say and then repeat it back to them using different descriptive words to broaden their vocabulary.
Happy playing,
Debs :)
Look where else we are. Do you play with us here? :)
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