Recommended Age: 3 to 5 years
Level of Parent Involvement: Medium to present the exercise to the child, then low once the child works independently, providing assistance with cleaning up if necessary
Prerequisites
- None
Materials
- 3-4 egg shells (ensure there is no egg left in the shells, wipe them out prior to the child using them)
- Mortar and pestle
- Tray
- Small bowl for the crushed egg shells
- Small jar
- PVA or craft glue
- Paint brush
- A4 card
- Textas, crayons or pencils to draw
- Tray
- Sponge
Preparation
- Wipe out the egg shells (if you use eggs in cooking try to collect them over the course of a week to ensure you have the shells for this exercise rather than wasting eggs)
- Place a small amount of glue into the jar
- Place the paper, paintbrush, glue and sponge on the tray
- Place the mortar and pestle and small bowl onto the other tray
Steps
- Invite the child letting them know that you have a new craft activity to show them
- Show the child the tray, the child may bring the tray to the table, you bring the tray with the mortar and pestle and small bowl
- Sit to the right of the child, introducing them to the mortar and pestle
- Show the child the egg shells, explaining to the child that they will be using the mortar and pestle to crush up the egg shells to make snow
- Place an egg shell half into the mortar
- Take the pestle and show the child how to crush the egg shell into small pieces by moving the pestle up and down
- Tip the crushed egg shell into the small bowl, put another egg shell into the mortar and invite the child to crush the shell
- Once the child has crushed up all the egg shell let the child know that they will need to do a drawing on the A4 card of a snowy day
- Leave the child to work independently whilst they draw their picture
- Come back when the child is finished drawing and show the child how to paste the snow (crushed egg shells) onto their picture
- Take the small jar with the glue, dip the paintbrush into the glue, wiping off any excess glue onto the side of the jar
- Using back and forth strokes put the glue onto the paper
- Show the child how to pick up a pinch of the crushed egg shells (or you may provide a spoon) and sprinkle the crushed egg shells onto the glue to create snow
- Invite the child to paste the snow onto their picture
- When they child is finished show them where they can place their picture to dry
- The child may use the sponge to wipe any glue from the table or the sides of the jar
- Invite the child to help wash and dry the mortar and pestle
Variations
- The child may make a snow man out of cotton wool to paste onto their picture before adding the snow instead of drawing
