As part of simple, tactile play – cloud dough can be squashed, squeezed, rolled, flattened, chopped, cut, scored, raked, punctured, poked and shredded! Each one of these different actions aids fine motor development in a different way, not to mention hand-eye coordination and general concentration.

It is for these reasons that I use cloud dough so often, and for some many different learning experiences. Many young children are tactile learners and require the sense of touch to interact with the world around them. Because we are learning about all things related to skeletons, I combined cloud dough, a diagram of skeleton, and our thinking minds to learn more about anatomy!

There were two components of this activity. Students first named three different bones (the skull, ribs, sternum, and femur).   They then used their fingers to roll up cloud dough (baby oil and corn starch) into the different bones. Lastly (with help from Miss Carrie), they connected their pieces to create a full skeleton!

For this activity, we used toilet paper to wrap ourselves up as mummies!

Some friends wrapped themselves up with help from Miss Carrie, while others wrapped up their friends!

The best part? Breaking free!

Felt pieces are fun and inexpensive and allow children to practice creative and problem-solving skills. We try to use as many open-ended activities as possible, so your child is motivated to think divergently. Open-ended materials are those which young children can use for creative play in any way they like, within a set of guidelines for safety and clean up. Open-ended materials are like open-ended questions.

There is no “one” answer or one “right” way to use them. Any child can enjoy, and be successful in creating with a few simple materials, such as felt. Using open-ended materials nurtures both the child’s creativity and self esteem. Blocks, dress ups, props, recycled items, and natural materials like seeds, earth, sand, and water are also open ended materials which can be used in many ways. For this activity, we used felt pieces to create a variety of faces on felt pumpkins. There was no right or wrong answer. Each child created an expression that they saw fit, according to their own understanding of the various facial expressions they saw on a few pictures.

To help us hone our fine motor skills, we strung pipe cleaners through an spider-shaped colander. Parents may think that activities like these have very little developmental significance, but the truth is just the opposite.

Activities like these are crucial because they allow a break in the sometimes monotonous tasks of tracing or even coloring, and provides a wide range of motion that young writers can use. dominant hands. Stabilizing the cards while working the pipe cleaner through the holes strengthens those little fingers and muscles.