When the children were salt painting their Easter eggs the previous day, I noticed that their interest in the activity lay with using the pippettes to randomly splat paint onto the template. So to allow them the opportunity to do this I taped sheets of kitchen towel onto the table with masking tape, provided them with watered down paint and pippettes and let them splat to their hearts content!
This simple activity proved surprisingly popular with the children. They frequently visited the table throughout the day, sometimes staying for a few squirts, sometimes getting through several sheets of kitchen towel. From my point of view this was an activity that the children were confident to explore on their own, therefore it needed no adult direction and very little direct supervision, but gave lots of opportunity to practice small motor skills and develop their finger muscles and coordination.
It was fascinating to watch the children directing their own learning over the day. The older children found they could make patterns and pictures (though not particularly successfully as the paint spread through the towel) but the younger children also progressed from random splatting. One little girl became obsessed with creating straight lines – just think of the coordination, concentration and small motor skills that required!
Some of our fantastic designs (the ones that didn’t get too soggy!)
Links to EYFS:
PD: Using Equipment and Materials
PD: Exploring Media and Materials – where there are example of use of colour language / colour mixing
CLL: Writing
CLL: Handwriting
