I’m sure if you have young kids you have played the colour version of “I Spy”
You know, “I spy with my little eye, something that is….{red, orange, blue, green etc}”
Well, we’ve been in the car quite a bit lately with Drs appointments so we’ve played this quite a lot and it became the inspiration for a colour themed Invitation to Play table:
Again, these were all items that I already had at home. One of my favourite things about Invitation to Play Tables!
I love this wooden colour/shape puzzle
Talking with children as they complete the puzzle is great for language development and ensuring they have various cognitive concepts: “What shape is that?” “How many pieces are green?” etc
Another way that I love to encourage the kids to play with puzzles is on multiple surfaces. Here the puzzle board is placed on the ottoman and Mr L needs to do a deep squat to pick up the pieces from the floor
When playing this way, I make it a rule that they can only pick up one piece at a time. This way you are guaranteed to get in lots of leg strengthening without them even realising! Win/Win
These colour bears can be used in so many ways! I also have pattern cards, and math addition/subtraction cards that can be used with them (or you could make your own)
Miss S determined her own method of play. She wanted to sort them all first. You could even encourage them to count as they sort
In addition to the cognitive concepts that come with this, there is also the benefits of fine motor skills, and depending on their position, the opportunity to cross the midline
You can clearly see the bi-lateral coordination that is required for this task. If you were working on specific skills like leg strengthening, you could encourage your child to do this activity in a sustained squat
There are white and black pebbles at the bottom of this colour sorting rock for a sensory element
These dot markers have been a family favourite since the twins were a little over 1 year old. Again, there are so many ways that you can use these!
Even though there is an easier way for her to use these, I was so happy to see her crossing the midline like this. She’s also developing shoulder control
Colourful collage items are collated in a divided tray. Pom poms, buttons, glue, glitter pens
These glitter pens are fun and sparkly, while also allowing them to develop pencil grip and hand strength as they squeeze them to write or create
You can see how much harder Miss S has to work to get the glitter to come out. All good practise for her hand strength and fine motor skills
Making collages is a great process art. Kids are free to be as creative as they would like to be as no preconceived idea is thrust upon them
Scissor skills take time to develop, so by providing opportunities and different textures and ways for them to cut, you are setting them up for success
Mr L was really careful in the way that he cut to ensure each colour was kept separate. Miss S on the other hand, didn’t have quite as much control
As we’ve been sick for a while this Invitation to Play table stayed in place for almost 2 weeks….and they didn’t get bored! They just found some new ways to play.
We also played some colour hunt games where I would hide an item and they would have to find it. You can also help them work on their memory with games like this.
As you can see there are endless ways to encourage your child’s development, creativity and interests with a Colours Invitation to Play table. I would love to see what ideas you come up with!
Recent Comments