You know what I love? I love fun little activities and explorations that both Miss G and Sam can enjoy despite their 5.5 year age difference. I also really, really love colour theory and how magical it is in the eyes of little ones, so this super simple exploring colour theory with ice cubes activity was a total win in my eyes. For Sam, it was colourful and cold and full of noise and movement {a true delight for the senses!} and for Miss G, it was cool and chilled out and a perfect reinforcer for what she already knows and understands about primary and secondary colours. I did the activity just a little bit differently with each of the bubbas, and I’ve got to say that both methods worked perfectly well {though one was definitely more baby safe in my opinion}.
Tag Archives: colour mixing
5 Fun And Easy Water Play Activities
Water play… It’s a summer staple and something that’s enjoyed by kiddos of all ages. The best part is that most of the time, water play activities are incredibly easy to set-up, because let’s face it – you give most munchkins a bin of water to splash around in and they’re happy. That being said, with a few extra supplies, you can take water play to a whole new level.
‘Mix It Up!’ Colour Exploration Kit
Yesterday, as Miss G and I were reading two of our favourite Hervé Tullet books {Press Here and Mix It Up!}, I was suddenly reminded of the fun colour exploration kit we put together months ago for one of Grae’s little friends. It was nearing the end of our time in Kuwait, so things were crazy with our upcoming international move and me being deep in the throws of early pregnancy sickness/exhaustion, so I never got around to sharing it, but after hearing Grae talk about it so excitedly yesterday afternoon, I think we may just have to whip up a similar kit for her to enjoy this weekend.
Colour Theory Ornaments
Oh my goodness… It feels like Gracen and I have been waiting for this week’s instalment of our preschool book club forever! Shortly after sharing our magnetic polka dot sensory bag inspired by Press Here {one of our favourites}, Herve Tullet’s publicist contacted us and asked if we’d be interested in checking out his newest book, Mix It Up! Ummm.. YES?! {And stay tuned until the end of the post, because we’re also giving away a copy to one of our lovely readers!}
Gel Baggies on a Light Table
Grae’s been absolutely loving our coloured gel baggies. Today we took them off of the window where they’ve been hanging out for the last couple of days and tried them out on a very simple DIY light box I threw together for us to experiment with.
Little Blue and Little Yellow: Colour Mixing With Gel Baggies
Oh my goodness… Gracen has just been loving the book activities we’ve been doing with our Preschool Book Club! So much so that yesterday while she was happily engaged in an activity not based on a book, she stopped suddenly and announced, ‘I know what this activity needs! A book to go with it!!’ Then she ran to the shelf, sorted through to find a story that coordinated with the project, and brought it over, declaring, ‘Now that’s better!’ Hah!
Colourful Plastic Window Clings
During our recent visit to Urban Source (I feel like a lot of my upcoming posts will start this way), Gracen selected several sheets of coloured acetate (basically a brightly-hued transparent film) to bring home. Right away, two activities came to mind… One of which was this window cling art.
During nap time, I used different objects from around the house as tracers to cut the large sheets into an assortment of shapes. I placed the shapes, along with a spray bottle filled with water, on a tray next to our large front window, and left it there for my curious little monkey to discover upon her awakening.
Of course she beelined to the tray the moment she was up. I explained that we could use water to help the shapes stick to the window, and she was off. A little mist….
And stick a shape on top.
Voila! Instant window art. Super fun and super easy.
It didn’t take her long to realize that looking through the shapes was pretty cool too… “Mama! Everything is all pink!”
Of course the previous method works well for seeing the outside world in pink, but this is much more effective for making your house turn pink.
The really cool thing about the fact that our shapes are primary colours is that they lend themselves to colour mixing very well. Grae was amazed at all of the colours she could make by simply overlapping two shapes.
And after experimenting with colour mixing, she tried sorting the pieces into groups based on shapes and colours.
And soon after that, the pieces started becoming pictures of things. The triangles stacked on top of one another became her tree and the tower of large circles became her snowman (if you look closely, you’ll see she is in the process of adding buttons to her snowman’s belly).
This was such a fun and simple activity and as long as you can deal with dirty windows in the name of play, it can stay out for several days to be revisited over time. The other thing I like about it is that if you don’t have coloured acetate just hanging around the house, you can always reuse project covers, plastic duo tangs (or, as I’ve learned from my American friends, plastic “prongy folders”), scraps of vellum scrapbooking paper, or even plastic packaging.
♥
On a side note, I know that I have seen this idea around the web before… Trouble is, I cannot for the life of me find the link I’m thinking of! If you know, please pass the info my way as I’d love to give credit where credit’s due.