Fabulous Fine Motor Play

If given half a chance kids take care of their need to move their bodies and develop those gross motor skills needed to walk, run, jump, etc. But the fine motor skills are often lacking when kids get to school. As a result, holding a pencil, buttoning their coat, tying shoes can be difficult for them.

That’s why I was happy to see the terrific list of fine motor skill builders at www.handsonaswegrow.com . All of the activities use common household items to encourage little ones to use those fingers, hands, and eyes in a coordinated manner. Check it out.

Susan A. Vessels
Executive Director

Frost Paint

Want to add a little science to your art? Try making Frost Paint! The recipe is simple –water and Epsom salt- but the result is amazing. Crystals will form right before your eyes!

Add ½ cup Epsom Salt (found in the pharmacy section) to ½ cup boiling water. That’s it! Boiling the water is the key to make sure the salt dissolves completely in the water.

• Draw a picture on a piece of colored construction paper.
• Paint over it with your Frost Paint.
• When it dries, the water will evaporate and leave the long, thin Epsom salt crystals. It will look like frost on your drawing.
• Do some experimenting. Try it with a larger amount of salt in the water. How is the result different?
• Try adding food coloring to the water. Do you think it will make colored crystals?
• What do you think would happen with table salt or rock salt? Try it!

Karo Syrup Color Mixing

At a recent training with teachers involved in the PNC Grow Up Great with Science grant, we explored the properties of liquids and some unconventional ways to experiment with color mixing. Karo syrup provides a unique experience, because the colors don’t mix immediately but instead slide over one another creating a variety of shades and patterns and sometimes allowing the primary colors to re-emerge. If you are looking for an activity that is mesmerizing, try this one out. Just look how transfixed these teachers are!

Materials: Karo Syrup, Food Coloring, Large Waxed Paper Plate

Instructions:

• Put a large drop of Karo Syrup in the middle of a paper plate.
• Add one drop of yellow, one of red, and one of blue food coloring on opposite edges of the syrup. 
• As the child holds the plate vertically and lets the syrup run, the colors begin to mix and make other colors. 
• Keep turning the plate so that the syrup does not drip off. 
• What colors do you see? Can you make any new colors?
• Turn it again. Do you see any of the colors you started with?