Sand drawing is not only an unusual kind of art

Sand drawing is not only an unusual kind of art but also an effective and very popular method of art therapy.

Sand therapy as a way of working with the emotional sphere of the child is widely used by psychologists, psychoanalysts, as well as teachers and speech therapists. Today, this activity of pedagogical and creative orientation is available to any family who has an Art Light Activity Table/Box at home.

Sand as a material for sensory and educational games has several advantages. First, it is pleasant to touch it, it helps to relax, relieves emotional tension. Children love to play with loose materials, so it is perfect for activities with kids who do not like to learn at all.

Secondly, this material can be used as a solution to various problems. Drawing with sand helps to develop fine motor skills, sensory, creative thinking; when the kid draws with both hands, it contributes to the development of interhemispheric asymmetry.

Thirdly, the sand eliminates the fear of failure. This is important for children with increased anxiety. And if something does not work, you can always pour the sand and start over.

This activity helps to cognize of the world. A toddler is excited about the creation process of pictures with colored sand because with it helps the child gets acquainted with the texture and shapes of the materials. Dry sand can be even more interested than dry sand.

Esthetic enjoyment. The drawings made with sand are original and beautiful, they can embody all the fantasy of a small author.

Emotional component. Psychologists recommend drawing the whole family. This is a great opportunity to socialize and engage in collective creativity, which will definitely enjoy everyone.

Practice shows that kids who are engaged in sand drawing, not so much exposed to get stressed. During this creative activity, kids relax, get rid of negative thoughts and tension. As a result, the nervous system becomes stronger, sensitivity and aggressiveness disappear.

Sand drawing has an excellent influence on the physical and psychological development of the little artist. Children can create sand pictures at any age. Best of all, if adults join the kids – to create joint masterpieces.

Unusual ways to attract more interest of your kid to drawing

Full-size drawing

Just to continue telling about useful kids crafts. Drawing with palms and fingers is very popular now, it is really a very useful activity, but quite often we limit our children within the frames of one album sheet or dry erase board. Children love grand scale, no wonder they tend to draw on the wallpapers.

You can minimize the effects of children’s activity by giving them a large area for drawing, such as a piece of old wallpaper, a drawing paper sheet, a large piece of wrapping paper or simply glued together ordinary sheets. It can be a fun family game.

We love to turn around on the floor and create – palms, hands, objects. You can leave traces of the machines with paint or put a stamp on the jaws, spray with a toothbrush, or even take paint brushes and rollers.

Body drawing

Next popular family activity and a real passion for children is to paint on their own bodies.
It is good to use a special body painting, but if it is not found, then watercolor, finger or gouache paints will do. Let the children paint on themselves and each other for their own pleasure. It is a great opportunity to entertain them, during the process kids are getting relaxed and expressing their creativity.

Everything is washed off in a few movements, but there is a lot of fun for children. Kids enjoy drawing on unusual spots. You can use the windows, you can draw with flush colors, it is especially interesting to create themed windows, for example, a winter or spring window. And in the mirror, you can trace your reflection with the same markers. Just as an independent creative process or a way to delineate the boundaries in other games.

Painted rice for children’s games and crafts

How to paint rice for games and crafts

Turn usual grain into a rainbow! Step-by-step master class on how to properly color rice with food dyes and ideas for using colored rice in sensory games and children’s art: applications, crafts, dry painting.

How to dye rice at home

If you want to get multi-colored cereals for sensory boxes, creativity and educational games, it is recommended to take long-grain white rice, it is harder and stronger.

We suggest three methods of coloring:

Coloring rice with food dyes. As a result, painted grains have a smooth surface and a rich bright color that does not tarnish over time.

Painting rice with gouache. As a result, the croup turns out to be rough and after active games loses its original color.

Painting with natural dyes. These are spinach juice, beets, turmeric, saffron. Naturally colored rice acquires only a light ebb, and making the color brighter is difficult.

For dyeing rice you need:

rice;

dye;

crockery or ziplock package;

gloves;

essential oil (optional).

How to paint

Add a little dye to dry rice (not more than ½ tsp per 1 kg of cereals). The amount of dye will depend on the intensity of the color. Dry the dye previously diluted in a few drops of water. Do not add a lot of liquid: this can lead to swelling of the grits. Liquid and gel formulations (gouache) are not diluted with water. Stir the cereal thoroughly. For this, it is convenient to place the mass in a ziplock bag and shake it well.

If you mix it with a spoon in a bowl, in order to avoid painting of your hands, we recommend doing it with gloves.

After put the colored rice on a sheet of paper and let it dry for several hours. During this time, the dye is absorbed and will not get dirty hands during the game.

If you want the rainbow mass has a pleasant smell, add a few drops of your favorite essential oil while mixing the ingredients.

Ideas for using colored rice

Colored rice is perfect as a filler for sensory boxes. These games will help the child to expand the tactile experience – kids will be able to touch, pour, explore, dig in, dig, search for toys. Using colored rice in applications and crafts, you diversify the creative process. These useful exercises with cereals contribute to the development of children fine motor skills. Colored rice can be used to decorate the interior.

Drawing with colored rice

Drawing with colored rice is an interesting technique and wonderful leisure for small children. The surface of the picture of the grits is always obtained in relief.

Drawing with your finger over a layer of rice is the simplest technique of drawing with cereals for kids. Pour a layer of rice on a tray with sides, level it. Let the kids draw with their fingers. Drawing patterns develop children’s imagination and fine motor skills.

Drawing with “loose” grains – this technique is similar to drawing with sand.

Drawing with grains on modeling clay: cover the cardboard with a thin layer of it, fill the required parts of the picture with rice. It is possible to decorate the individual elements on the finished plasticine picture with a grain texture.

How to make a sensory box? And what materials do I use?

How to make a sensory box?

Sensory boxes consist of four elements: tray, filler, toys and “tools.”

Tray	wooden box; cardboard box; plastic container or bowl; wide and shallow saucepan; plastic or metal pelvis; inflatable pool
Filler	beans, peas, lentils; cereals (semolina, oatmeal, millet, rice, buckwheat, wheat, couscous) cornflakes; pasta (gossamer, shells, tubules, spirals, bows, stars); boiled spaghetti; flour, potato or corn starch; nuts, seeds; cocoa, coffee; jelly; coarse and fine salt; cones, acorns, chestnuts; earth, sand, kinetic sand; pebbles, stones; hydrogel balls, or akvagrunt; seashells; moss, leaves, grass, flowers, dried berries, straw; snow (in winter), ice (at any time of the year from the freezer); pieces of cut paper, paper napkins (whole, torn into pieces, crumpled up in the form of balls); cotton wool, cotton pads, cotton balls; cloth scraps; yarn, thread; foam pieces; pompons; buttons; paper clips; sawdust, nuts shells; sparkles; water; liquid soap; shaving foam.
Toys	animals; cubes, balls, rings, rattles; toy pieces of furniture; cars; dishes and household items; toy food; various boxes; artificial plants
Tools	spatula, scoop, rake; can, bucket; sieve funnel; pear for water; spoons of different sizes and types (for ice cream, for salad), ladle, skimmer; forceps, tweezers; cookie cutters, ice molds, muffins, various silicone molds.plastic cups;

But do not hurry to leave the child alone with the box, even if it seems to you that you have already put a lot of effort into creating it.

Just show your kid what and how you can play, discuss different tactile sensations. You need to arouse the interest , to attract and show different ways to play.

And then make sure you gave him or her time for a free independent game.

A sensory box for craft activity for kids

Today we are talking about one of the popular and useful craft activity for your kid (infants and toddler) – a sensory box.

Beautiful, captivating, developing imagination and fine motor skills, entertaining for a long time, and also an inexpensive toy … What it can be?

We are talking about a sensory box, which any parents can do with their own hands for a child. This simple invention is probably familiar to all of us. Many of today’s adults in childhood loved to sort out grandmother’s baskets with buttons, digging in a jar with fathers nuts and screws, and it’s not worth talking about exciting sandbox games – everyone loved them and now loves them. The sensory box combines all these “charms” – it is a container with loose or liquid filler and game elements of your choice.

How to play with the Art & Play sensory box? sensory box for kids

Kids usually quickly find a way to play with this toy without any adults help. Most of the sensory boxes are filled with something loose, and they can be played the same way as in a sandbox: pour the filler from the container into the container, bury and dig objects. Touching objects with different texture, kids enrich their tactile experience. A variety of games that are applicable to the sensory box can be very diverse. That’s why this toy can be universal and widely used.

What age are sensory boxes for?

The sensory box can be offered to a baby who has already learned to sit up.

Sensory box for children up to a year (from 6-8 months)

The sensory box for infants should not contain small details as they are striving to try everything on a tooth. How to fill the box? You can choose objects according to any ideas (only wooden, or only round, or of the same color). Also, on the contrary, you can offer to the child a full box of various “interesting things”: balls, rags, rattles, soft little animals, cubes. The main thing is that it shouldn’t contain items that swallow or hurt. The sensory box itself should not be very big – a wicker basket, a plastic bowl or a shallow basin is enough for the kids.

The sensory box will definitely attract the infant: a combination of various objects that can be picked up with fingers, shifted, felt, and some also make sounds – rustling, ringing or at least knocking – will not leave the child indifferent.

1-2 years

For children 1-2 years old, who no longer drag everything into their mouths, you can make a sensory box with a smaller (although, preferably, edible) filling: cereals, pasta, and dough.

Of course, the game should be under parents’ control. Now for the game will be useful “tools”: a big spoon, skimmer, shovel, rake, and even tongs.

How to play? Children really like to find objects hidden in the filler of the sensory box. Hide 10-12 toys and ask the child to find them. Suggest your child sort toys by color, size, texture or form in two containers (buckets, plates, jars). Does the child have a good time doing this with his hands? Let them try to repeat, using a spoon or skimmer! During the game with the sensory box a child can study the colors, shapes, and other properties of objects. The sensory box perfectly develops coordination and agility – for example, you can catch fish or other toys from a container filled with water.

2.5-3 years old

With children older than 2.5-3 years, it is already possible to organize real thematic games in a sensory box. You can create different stories with your child, based on preferences and imagination. Does your son love cars and everything related to them? Make a mini-car service or high-speed track. Is your daughter crazy about fairies? Then your option is a fabulous meadow. There are a lot of ideas, just use your imagination and have a good time!