Here at Little Learners, there’s nothing we love more than incorporating Little Brian Paint Sticks into our messy play and mark making activities.
If you have used Little Brian Paint Sticks before, you will know the mark making and learning opportunities are endless and if you haven’t…well you need to know! As a mum of two toddlers who LOVE to colour create and make their mark, I have always found art and craft activities a little daunting. For someone who runs a messy play business for babies and young children I have to admit I’m a bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to messy play and painting activities in my house (which once sat like a show home in my single days…little did I know)! When I joined the Little Learners team I discovered Little Brian Paint Sticks and heard so many wonderful things about them. What can I say, they were the best investment for us and are used daily in our activities.
From the boys’ perspective they are so easy to grip and control as they are chunky. As their fine motor skills and hand dexterity are still very much developing it doesn’t take a huge amount of pressure to make a mark and they glide so easily across the medium you are using. The best part for me as a mum? … They are so easy to clean and tidy up and they literally have endless uses for learning activities.
As my boys approach their second birthday the teacher in me is always looking for learning opportunities to challenge them. Our focus lately has been recognising colours so I wanted to introduce colour sorting and matching into the mix. Like many other parents right now I am always on the look out for new activities we can do as we stay home. I’ve come up with a few colour sorting and matching activities that can be made using household recycling. I always try to find a balance between buying educational games and activities and making them ourselves. As they grow I think it’s so important to involve them in their learning and make them responsible learners. They both helped me to make the activities which I find helps their language development and understanding, and over time this has definitely impacted their ability to follow instructions.
Colour Ring Toss
What you will need:
Paper plates, toilet roll or kitchen roll tubes, sellotape or glue, Little Brian Paint Sticks.
Benefits:
Hand-eye co-ordination, colour recognition, colour sorting and matching, fine and gross motor skills development.
1. Cut a circle from the middle of some paper plates.
2. Using your Paint Sticks, colour each paper plate in your chosen colour. (I used 2 primary colours but you can use more to increase the difficulty).
3. Stick either a toilet roll or kitchen roll tube to a paper plate for each colour you are using. Colour it in your chosen colour.
4. Now you are ready to play the game. Choose a paper plate ring, say the colour to reinforce the language and toss or feed it onto the correct tube.
