MAMA Children’s Activity Post: Circles!

To help my son learn about shapes I decided to incorporate a shape theme to one of our MAMA afternoons. The shape I chose was circles as there were so many things which were circular around the house that we could use as mark making tools!

Equipment;

– Plastic activity mat.
– Old clothes/aprons.
– Different coloured paints (water-based, non toxic).
– Paper plates.
– Paper/card.
– Circular/spherical mark making tools: different bottle tops, jar lids, corks, balls, round sponges, old sticky tape rolls etc.
– Wipes.

Step 1: Preparation;

For a little while I collected up anything I could find which was circular/spherical so I had a good mix of different sizes and textures. Then once I had a good collection I set up our painting space with the plastic activity mat, mark making tools and paints which I squirted out onto paper plates (an older child can help with this part). I then put out round paper plates to paint on – in keeping with the theme! My son really enjoyed this activity so when I ran out of paper plates we also used pieces of card to continue the activity – always good to have spare paper/card to help activities last longer!

Step 2: Circles, circles everywhere!!

I chose a mark making tool first and showed my son how to dip it into the paint and then put it on the paper plates to create circles. I spoke to him about this shape being a circle and encouraged him to say it too! He enjoyed the freedom to try out all the different Mark making tools, he enjoyed rolling the balls through the paint too and using his hands (not circles but finger prints are close!).

Step 3: Tidy tidy tidy up!

I put the reusable mark making tools into soak so we could use them again another day. We put our creations on the side to dry, wiped down the excess paint and then had a bath. I then cleaned up properly later.

We’re now on the hunt for other shapes to use for another fun MAMA afternoon!! Don’t forget to follow us at http://www.megaawesomemessyart.com and on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!