Irresistible Ideas for play based learning

We always have creative supplies available for the children to use as they want them. Paper, tape, scissors, glue etc., are kept at our invention table for the children to use any time.

One fine motor activity we offered the children as a bit of a let’s see where they take it kind of activity was masking tape, black paper and white crayons.  And boy were we blown away with the results.

Not only were the children disinterested in adding other materials or colour to their projects, something they are always free to do if they so choose, they came up with the most wonderful designs and pictures.

This activity is great for their maths and fine motor skills, and we’ve noticed over the years how children really think outside the square when using black and white as their base.  A number of boys who have not shown a lot of interest in painting and drawing had a great time with this activity. In fact one of these boys was so proud of his creations that he put four of them up on the wall and still took several home with him that day … WOW!

As part of our Star of the Week program, our parents came into kinder to do activities with the children. One made the lovely old fashioned ‘open, shut them’ games which the children just loved!

We found that the children needed a bit of help getting the folds right as it is a bit complicated, but they are great at squashing the fold lines to make them good and sharp.

On the outside sections they had colours - the words and a matching coloured spot .

On the next two layers they had numbers…

… and in the middle some fun actions, such as “Do 15 star jumps” and “Make a monkey face and noise”.

When we come back from the term holidays, we will try doing a big one of these with a large group of children. Let’s see now – there is colour and number recognition, fine and gross motor activity, literacy, playing with a friend, having fun … What a great thing to do!

When we were discussing how an object flies through the air or goes through the water with more ease when it has a pointed shape, we tried to throw a flat piece of paper. It went a very short distance then floated down to the ground.

This led to a chat about how the air supports that flat, wide shape, causing it to float to the ground rather than drop straight down.

We showed the children how to make pyramid pointers to illustrate this – fold a square of paper into diagonals, open it up, then do it the other way.

Open and see four triangles. Pinch one triangle in, push its sides together and tape them.

They were fascinated at how they always descended point first, regardless of how they were thrown up, due to the pointy end moving through the air faster than the bigger end.

As the pyramid pointer floated through the air the children wondered whether it would float in water – which naturally led onto what floats and what sinks and why!