I have achieved quite a lot over the past year and
clearly keeping my blog up to date wasn’t one of them. I have, however, moved
house (and business!) twice in six months, become a single mummy, launched an
art and craft range and have done loads of plotting and planning which you will
hopefully see the results of very soon!
But for now, more on the art & craft range...
I’m not sure if I have mentioned it before but my
background (before children) was in teaching; where my goals were to be either an
art teacher and/or to work my way up to being a primary school Principal. So to finally
be venturing into the field of art and crafts is very exciting, especially on
the days where a huge box of art and craft supplies arrives for me to play
with.
In the latest arrival came a box of sensory collage
materials, which have turned out to be a lot more beneficial than just playing and
creating with different types of textured materials. It turns out to be great
for developing and extending language, particularly in children struggling with
vocabulary and descriptive words. It also gives children a tangible experience
where they can not only look but touch and play, therefore giving them a more
concrete understanding of a variety of descriptive words.
The sensory pack included crunchy orange noodles, hard
small purple balls and larger yellow ones, a variety of coloured shredded paper
& tissue paper circles, white stringy noodles, pink card diamonds and yellow
squares, red pasta, soft fluffy paper and the list goes on...
I sat down with my daughter on one of her days off and
got out all the different crafty supplies and glue. Here is what we got up
to.... and yes we made a huge mess!
By decorating a die
cut paper card lantern with our sensory bits and pieces, we also practiced fine
motor skills; being careful to glue along the lines while not gluing the whole
project to the table (which I admit to doing several times).
Not only are these craft packs great for language and
fine motor skills, but they are a fun way to learn and create, away from the TV
and other technologies, allowing children (and mums!) to be creative and use their imaginations;
something that children these days have much less opportunity to do.
These sensory packs will be available through the website
and from your local Party Plan Consultant soon, along with a wider range of
crafts including wooden planes and rockets, sand art, collage packs and loads
more.
