The sun was shining today and the sky was blue, it was warm. What a beautiful invitation to play outdoors today!
All the little daffodils are starting to flower now and buds are starting to show on all the trees and plants. This is a lovely time of year as the garden begins to wake after a cold winter here in the UK.
I have really missed doing the super messy outdoor play with Little N so today was an opportunity to get out and enjoy our first outdoor messy play of the year.
I set up the invitation for play:
We used:
2 bags of cornflour
Bowls
Utensils
Warm water
Tray
Bottles
Like a hawk Little N was drawn to the water and started off by filling up the empty bowls, She then saw the bowl full of cornflour and started grabbing large amounts with her hand.
"What's this Mom?"
"It's cornflour" I replied.
"Oh cornflour, I'm going to make some soup for black cat, he's very hungry now" she said.
I let Little N lead her own learning and play.
It is so much much more valuable when you let children lead their own play.
When children are not being directed (adult led), they are exploring and using their imagination. They have the freedom to create whatever they wish. I didn't tell her at any point what to do, she did her own thing and worked things out for herself.
The cornflour floated on the top of the warm water and she reached in with her hand and watched on as it began to dissolve. As she pulled her hands out and went on to mix with the wooden spoons, trails of cornflour dripped in long strands from her fingertips.
She then selected another spoon and enjoyed transferring the fluffy flour into the water and giving it a good mix. She was busy talking away to herself at this point, talking about the black cat, telling him not to worry and that his dinner would be ready soon.
The cornflour was now getting to the right consistency.
I could have easily have made the cornflour up and let Little N take it from there but allowing her to discover the process independently offers another valuable learning opportunity for her.
She then poured the cornflour out onto the tray. It took a while to run out of the bowl as it was lovely and thick, It covered the black tray like a slow motion wave. To get a better coverage on the tray we added some more water and cornflour.
Little N then added another 'ingredient' some sky blue water beads that I had left over from our Sensory Frozen Rainbow that she enjoyed playing with in the week. She kept transferring them from bowl to bowl, first by picking them up individually (pincer grip) and then pouring them out together by tipping the bowl up.
She then used her masher to crush the waterbeads. She invited me to have a go and the sensation of the waterbeads crumbling and oozing through the holes was rather pleasing and addictive.
If you enjoyed this activity Adventures of Adam are hosting an A-Z challenge of Tuff Tray ideas. You can view the large collection of ideas and inspiration by Clicking Here.
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