It was high time to make a new batch of microwave playdough(a science lesson on its own) and together with these fun symmetry playdough mats, it made a lovely early morning activity over the weekend!
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I printed and laminated these fab mats, courtesy of the brand new book STEAM Kids. (Read on to find more information) I should have enlarged it for my 3.5 year old and definitely will do next time. (PS, you can print it in colour too.)
After discussing the shapes and symmetry I showed my 6 year old how to “fix the shapes”. Visual closure is the skill needed here, and it is quite difficult too!
My 3.5 year old did struggle with this concept, so out came the shape cookie cutters. He had to match the correct shape to the correct half, to get the idea of how the finished shape should look(helping with visual closure), then try and “fix” it.
This activity evolved into baking shape cookies, which is perfectly fine, because now there are talks about the circle, stars, rhombus cookies! All good for language development too!
STEAM KIDS- The Book
“STEAM Kids is a goldmine of inspiration for parents and educators who are hard-pressed for ideas that straddle the worlds of science, technology, engineering, art, and math. This well organized, beautifully photographed book will delight and inspire you and your kids to create, invent, and tinker.”
— Rachelle Doorley, founder of TinkerLab
You will find:
more than 50 hands-on ideas to grow creative thinking kids, plus a love for science, technology, engineering, art and math. It is written with clear instructions, graded according to difficulty, given a time frame and not to mention, beautifully photographed.
A peek inside:
Sections within the book:
- Sense(this playdough activity falls in this category)