cool paint activity

We are on school holidays and I LOVE IT!
We've been busy here, we have some friends from Sydney and so we've been to the beach, strawberry picking and hanging out :)

Ive also got some plans for crafty things over the holidays but we haven't had a chance to really do much yet! So this is something I did with Amahli last week.

I realised late last week that I hadn't been doing as much with Amahli for a whole heap of reasons... been really busy, lots of things on, preschool excursions, STUFF! But we were home for a day last week and she was "bored" and I realised I hadn't been actually sitting with her and doing anything for awhile. So I grabbed the pastels and began a crafty arty activity I did moons ago with Jumeirah that I knew she'd love.

Colour all over the page with pastels, all colours, all over. Make sure there is no white paper showing.

Paint over the coloured page with black paint.
Using a stick ( end of a pencil, skewer, matchstick, paddlepop stick, fork) and draw in the black paint.
Colours start coming through! its really pretty, you can make fireworks, whatever! If you aren't happy with your drawing, just paint over with black paint and start again :)

Amahli did lots of swirls. For her it wasn't about the end picture, it was pure enjoyment and seeing the colours appear :)

Its a simple idea but can be done with such a broad age group.
Why not give it a go!

more pre writing ideas

Get right into the pre writing tasks for Amahli at the moment and shes loving it :)

It takes me a bit more to prepare it and to get my brain into the right gear but its good for her and its fun, plus its really getting her ready for reading and writing, as well as recognising words and their forms.

Todays cool idea Ive seen and done before with Jumeirah but realised I hadnt done it with this little miss.
All it requires is their name on a piece of paper ( you can write it to save time but mine is printed and laminated so I can use it for other things) and some playdough ( again, you can buy a tub of the gunk or you can make your own awesome stuff)


Get the child to have a look at the letters of their name on the paper. Ask them to make each letter out of dough. They may need a hand to get started, maybe to make the first log to shape, but once they start, it takes off :)

You can give them other words of they want to do more, talk to them about the letters they are forming, let them hear you say the name of the letter and then what it sounds like. This activity is also really good for strengthening muscles in the fingers, so needed for pencil holding and control.