We were recently gifted art supplies from Jaques Of London, there's really no better time to create the perfect sensory, child-led activity using a book from one of our favourite authors!
So I gathered all of my art supplies and set about making some little additions to add in to make it extra fun! First I drew and coloured in a whales tail, then used the tail to size up the snail and get the right angle on the bottom of the snail so that he would sit perfectly on the whales tail, like in the book. I also drew a larger snail but this time without the shell, so that I could add a small wooden bowl to which contained rice to make a shell like look. Once that was done I used my hexagonal tray and added more coloured rice which also included desiccated coconut (which was previously made and mixed in other activities) the coconut added a great smell and holds its smell if you store in a zip lock bag in a cool place.
Then I made the shapes of waves in the rice in the hexagonal tray, so that it would look even more inviting and appealing to the eye.
Once it was all put together onto her flisat table, this was what the outcome looked like. It was honestly so simple to create and held hours of fun! After we had finished with it, I simply put it all away for another great day of sensory play, great either on a rainy day or just for a fun activity after school that's just as easy to set up then it was to put away. Any rice that had fallen onto the floor, I just hoovered up!
We had great fun opening the gifts sent to us from Jaques Of London. Olivia was so pleased to see that they were art supplies, as you can never have enough of those!
We enjoyed reading The Snail And The Whale together. It's defiantly one of our favourite books from one of our favourite authors.
Followed by playing in the coloured sensory rice and lentils, filling the trays and snails bowl shell with the wooden scoops. This activity is great for fine motor skills! As it helps your child to strengthen the muscles in their hands, co-ordination and develop hand:eye co-ordination using simple, everyday materials and a bit of creative fun! Child-led play is by far our favourite way of learning! With child-led play, your child can be completely independent in deciding what they'd like to do. This leads to a whole range of possibilities where they can use their imaginations to explore their environment, which is proven great during their early childhood.
Finishing off with the best part, using our new art supply's to do some drawings of the charactors out of the book we chose!
Olivia was so proud with the snail that she drew!
I'll list all the supplies that we used below and the links to the art supplies from Jaques Of London. Thanks for reading!
Cardboard - Ths was simply our waste cardboard. We have Tails food delivered for our dog, which comes in a large box with two smaller boxes inside. Absolutely great for crafting with! We're all about re-using our recycle waste!
Activity fillers I used - The little divider tray was from The Range, it came with little wooden shapes in https://www.therange.co.uk/arts-and-crafts/papercraft/stickers-toppers-and-embellishments/toppers/topper-shapes/art-studio-wooden-shapes-houses/?position=1&s=853169#853169
The little wooden scoops that we used are salts scoops, they came as a pack of four in different sizes from EBay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334001043956?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=EpJZ8ndyQDy&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=09KCLefiRG2&var=543036786217&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPYand
The hexagonal tray was from EBay, came as part of three nesting trays
The small wooden bowls and plates were a great find from our local Sunday market.
Jaques Of London art sets -
Art set, sketch drawing pencils
Art set, water colouring pencils
Art set, paint and brush set