25 min
Shadow Drawing
Stand a toy in the sun and draw around its shadow.
❄️
Paint the Snow
Coloured water in a spray bottle and a garden full of blank canvas.
The best possible use of a snow day, and it needs food colouring and an old bottle.
What you need
- spray bottles or squeezy bottles
- water
- food colouring
How to do it
- Fill spray bottles with water and a few drops of food colouring.
- Make two or three different colours.
- Go outside and spray patterns onto fresh snow.
- Try writing names, or drawing something enormous.
- See what happens where two colours overlap.
Why this is good for them
Squeezing a spray trigger repeatedly is excellent hand strength work, and children do far more of it when the result is this immediate. Working at this scale also uses the whole arm rather than the fingers.
Adapting by age
2 to 3 yearsUse a squeezy bottle rather than a spray trigger, which is easier to operate.
8 to 12 yearsPlan a large design first on paper, then reproduce it in the snow.
Keep it safe
Warm clothes and a time limit. Food colouring stains clothing, so use old coats.
Cleanup tip
It melts.
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