Daisy has been writing her name for nearly a year now but recently she has taken to using capital letters and inverting the D and S. It was time to intervene and do a little bit of focused letter teaching.
I remember seeing colour bags somewhere on the lovely world wide web but I didn’t pin it so I’m working from a vague memory. Daisy and I set out on a mission to make colour bags for the light table.
You need:
- Finger paint gel mix (or similar)
- Food colouring
- Non-leak plastic bags
We spooned roughly 5 tablespoons of gel into each bag. I held the bags while Daisy counted. We filled one bag, got organized to fill another and went to lift the spoon but it had disappeared.
The gel had eaten it! After much giggling, we found the spoon and continued filling. Next came the food colour drops. Counting and good fine motor control skills were needed as Daisy added 5 drops of colour to each bag.
With full bags of colour, we headed down to the light table to play.
We had put a little bit too much coloured gel in the bags. I squished it into a container to use for…something? Testing writing on the bags allowed us to get the amount just right. I wrote a letter on the green bag. Daisy copied on the pink bag and then she wrote it on paper.
She worked away perfecting her letters and even took my role of drawing a dotted letter to follow if she got lost.
I had to remind her to use the right hand to make shapes in the gel then I realized I had set the table up for myself; a leftie!
For Daisy, the gel bags should be on the right side of the table so she does not have to reach too far with the writing hand. They are secured to the table with parcel tape.
The bright colours make me smile!
Oooh have to add that gel to my list of things I want to order! Eventually I might get around to placing an order or maybe it will be at the MCCA conference tradeshow =)
We will be there!
We made color (sensory gel bags) too only we used hair gel. I never heard of fingerpaint gel mix. Where do you get that from?
Your post probably inspired mine Deborah! The fingerpaint gel mix is from Quality Classrooms here in Canada. Not sure where you can get it in the States.
Actually, it’s not a bad idea to have her reach across the midline, although the picture looks like it is a wee bit too far for writing. Crossing the midline, reaching to the left or right of an imaginary line down the middle of your body, is great for brain development!
A fellow teacher used hair gel and had the children add two food colors to see how color mixing works. The kneeding of the gel was great for little fingers!
Good point Suzflee, it would almost be like a Brian Gym exercise! Colour mixing is a great idea too. Mixing the colour in felt great for my big fingers too!
How cool! What a great multi-sensory experience!
Cheers Maryanne : )
That looks great! I was wondering about using hair gel, glad to see in the comments that others have tried it… although I wonder if it would be as bright as your gel. We’ll have to experiment.
I haven’t tried it with hair gel. Have fun experimenting.