June 2nd, 2009 Why scribbling is fun! Posted by Melitsa in play activities, Thought of the week

Kids like to be independent.

Whatever you can do they can do. It’s natural to be so enthusiastic.

Both older boys enjoy colouring now. They do a lot of colouring at church during service ; after busy activities when they need some calm and just because… they like it.

Colouring within the lines is hard to keep neat.  I remember my dad teaching me how to colour by starting small and keeping the strokes in the same direction. I always would go faster and would go over the line. The last little bit before the edge was the hardest. I’d always get mad after working so hard I’d spoil that part.

It’s a fine motor skill to master- control and patience.

The MO is right now in the inbetween stage. He’ll colour part of the picture paying attention and exercising control and patience. Then suddenly- poof!  He’s back to long loopy scribbles all over the page.

I’ll encourage once or twice but generally leave it. He’s colouring more without my interference. I do say I see you coloured his boot a nice bright green and his other boot yellow. I’m hoping that the recognition will be enough a spur without the judgment. I also think his drawing is age appropriate. More of the picture is being coloured and less scribbled without much input from me.

Enjoy the scribble I say!

Since he wants to do what his big brother does… he needs to practice but be redirected so his frustration levels doesn’t = tantrum or meltdown.

To give him a break we try this.

We tape down one of these rubbing plates. Helps it to not slip.

Add some large butcher paper and rub over the top.

Here it doesn’t matter if you go over the edges. It satisfies his need for speed and big movements AND he gets to produce something.

Sometimes he chooses the animal but we have more fun when BG or I hide the animal  ( read: set it up for him) and he has to reveal the animal.

Here his big brother sat with him and helped him. Then the BG wrote the name after he elicited it from him…lol. You can see another surprise hidden underneath waiting to be revealed.

These boys not only worked on cooperation skills but fine motor, vocabulary and had an interesting discussion about whether to name the frog a mummy or a daddy frog.

Song we sang afterwards: 5 little speckled frogs sat on a speckled log

Eating some most delicious grub- yum yum!

one jumped into the pool

where it was nice and cool

then there were 4 green speckled frogs.

4 little speckled frogs…

3 little speckled frogs..

2 little speckled frogs…

1 little speckled frogs..

…he/she jumped into the pool where it was nice and cool then there were no more speckled frogs.

It wasn’t until later that  we snuggled while I told them the The Wide-Mouthed Frog story
.

***What art activities have you tried this week?***

Melitsa Avila is a former teacher, mother of three boys and military wife who talks about living an intentional play lifestyle using practical and everyday play activities to do with the under 5s. She publishes related ebooks & newsletters. Melitsa is the host and producer of a weekly Early Childhood radio show: Raising Playful Tots bringing parents and carers together with Early childhood practitioners. Thanks for reading!

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