All My Children

Vegetables and Fruit Printing

AGE 2 TO 3 YEARS

How it helps your child

In addition to all the reasons given earlier in the book for encouraging art and craft in the home, this particular activity will give your child the opportunity for self-expression and to communicate his ideas. Ideally you could do this activity with leftover vegetables, or fruit, that aren’t fresh enough to eat. (You should always be concerned to discourage waste). The activity will also help your child develop new skills.

What you need

Different surfaces on which to print such as coloured paper, newsprint, rice paper, paper towels, plain paper, old wallpaper, or fabrics. Thick tempera or powder paint

Suitable vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, celery and fruits like oranges and apples

You could also make a printing pad by putting absorbent paper or wet cloth in a shallow dish and then adding the paint.

Use a different dish for each colour.

How to play

With a very young child use the flat surface of a cut vegetable or fruit. They will all make different patterns.

With a slightly older child you can cut out a pattern on the end of the vegetable.

Show your child how to print by dipping the vegetable into the paint and making a row of patterns across the surface of the material you are printing.

Rubbings

AGE 3 TO 4 YEARS

How it helps your child

These activities will help your child develop an awareness of the art form such as shape, line, form and colour, and will also develop fine motor skills.

What you need

Different surfaces on which to make the rubbings, such as brown wrapping paper, white or coloured paper

Wax crayons

A selection of objects from which to make rubbings. Choose things in the park or the garden such as bark, leaves, bricks, paving stones.

How to play

1. Show your child how to hold the paper firmlywith one hand and the crayon, flat on its side, firmly with the other.
2. Slip the leaf or bark under the paper and rub hard. The results will vary and can be cut out and used in a collage of the environment.

Modelling and Carving with Natural Materials

AGE 4 TO 5 YEARS

How it helps your child

Modelling, particularly with clay, seems to be totally absorbing for a child. It develops fine motor skills and often appears to have a calming effect. It also helps creativity and self-expression.

What you need

Either natural clay (which is best), plasticine or playdough

For carving, suitable materials are soap, wood or rock salt

Prepare the working surface, carefully protecting the table, or provide a work board or a mat. If you are using real clay the finished products can be baked and saved.

Be sure your child learns how to clear up properly after using clay.

How to play

1. To start with, allow your child to feel the material and see how he can change its shape.
2. Then show him how to roll it out, knead it, twist it, push and pull it into shape.
3. Give him a few ideas to start with by making some simple things and then ask him if he can make something himself.

Designs with String

AGE 5 TO 6 YEARS

How it helps your child

A child of this age will enjoy experimenting with different kinds of string and rope and this medium can be very creative.

What you need

A variety of coloured string and rope

Choose a fairly hard surface for fixing the string on to, such as card. Dark colours produce good results.

Strong glue

How to play

At first let your child explore freely.

1. Then you could suggest a subject or theme such as flowers, a bird or patterns with circles and straight lines. When he has chosen an outline get him to draw it first with glue on the surface.
2. Then show him how to place and stick the string on to the glue.

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