Lines and Rulers
Hello,
I am Becky. My long name is Rebecca Fisk. I have been a teacher for many years and now help to teach grown-ups about how children learn.
I love exploring things and just having a go, especially doing things that all the family can join in with.
Today we are going to explore lines and use rulers to make lines!
Walking on Lines
Have a look in your local area outside to see if you can find lines on the pavement to walk on. This is a great activity to support children’s balancing skills and gives plenty of opportunity to develop their directional language such as forwards, backwards and sideways.
You can chalk different lines to follow too.
Or even use some rope or string to lay on the floor and walk on, balancing carefully.
Tiger Stripes- Animal Lines
This activity involves researching the lines and patterns on animals and choosing one to try and imitate through making similar lines on paper or card.
You can then use this to make an animal mask or hat.
Make Art Inspired By Kandinsky
There are lost of artists that have used straight lines, circular lines and other lines in their work. Kandinsky is one of the most famous and his works are a wonderful stimulus for children to have a go to learn to use rulers for making lines.
You will need some bold colours too which make the shapes created really stand out.
Find items for your child to draw around – this takes practice – as well as rulers or things with straight edges which you don’t mind a little felt-tip pen accidentally slipping on to!
Once children have been inspired by looking at other art, they can revisit this activity many times as they develop. Perhaps keep a photo gallery of their artistic experiments as they grow. We would love to see some of their creations in our gallery too.
These make very effective cards and pictures for gifts.
We would love to see some of their creations in our gallery too – please share with us on social media @eyfshome or email info@eyfshome.com.
Washing Line
Children love learning to use pegs. Check which ones open more easily first, to avoid frustration. Pegs are an excellent resource to develop your child’s fine motor skills pincer grip and finger strength. Perhaps you can hand wash some socks or small items of clothing and then hang them up to dry.
Using items like ribbons which are different lengths can help to support your child’s mathematical language and language development, learning what it means for something to be longer or shorter, wider or narrower.
Introducing a tape measure also helps children to begin to understand that we have units of measure and that things can be measured in different ways such as length, size, capacity, volume.
Safety – a reminder not to leave children unattended near string, ribbon or washing lines that could get tangled around them.
Extension
Look at images of art works by Wassily Kandinsky who uses lines, circles and bold colours for inspiration
Find a tape measure and have a go at measuring things or make your own measuring tape using string and a marker pen.
Encourage children to line things up in different ways, such as size order, or in shades of colours.
Make some peg people and a mini line for them to live on