Sticks Day
Hello I am Becky. My long name is Rebecca Fisk. I have taught lots of children before and some grown-ups too! I like exploring things and just having a go. I especially like activities that children, grown-ups and whole families can do together, whatever their age.
Today we are going to explore sticks. I am going to find sticks outside but also different types of sticks inside. Can you look for some too before we start? If you can’t find any sticks, straws, pencils and other straight things can be used.
The main thing to remember with sticks, especially the pointy ones, is to use them safely, then we can have lots of fun.
These are the activities we are going to do today:
Play ‘pick up sticks and lay them straight’.
Make tasty fruit kebab sticks.
Make ‘scatter stick’ art.
Make stick people.
Play 'pick up sticks and lay them straight'
Let’s start by learning the rhyme
One, Two buckle my shoe,
Three, four, knock on the door,
Five, six, pick up sticks,
Seven, eight, lay them straight,
Nine, ten, a big fat hen.
Have a go finding sticks and stick-like objects around the house and outside. Make a stick collection before you start so you can decide how you will arrange your sticks in the space that you have.
Explore the different sticks you have gathered and see if you can scatter them from a central point and take turns to pick them up without moving any of the others.
Can you then try arranging them in straight lines? A long line of sticks perhaps of vertical, horizontal and diagonal arrangements.
Fruit Kebab Sticks
These make a tasty and healthy snack and can be made with fruit and vegetables which are soft enough to ‘thread’ onto a kebab stick or toothpick. You might want to make sausage and pineapple sticks or cheese and pineapple sticks too.
Please be careful when you are eating them, especially with the pointy parts of the stick. You may want to take the fruit off before you start.
Threading activities help to develop children’s fine motor skills especially their pincer grip. This is needed when holding a pencil for writing. This type of fun developmental activity can help your child with their next stage of learning.
I hope you enjoy your tasty snack!
Scatter Sticker Art
This is a quick and easy way to make some art work by using sticks as a stimulus and a felt tip pen and paper. Simply hold a small collection of sticks in your hand, and similar to the game of pick-up-sticks you played earlier, let them drop onto the paper. As you remove one, you mark where it was.
This often gives a ‘ray’ like design. Why not use them to make cards for friends and family?
Make a Stick Person
Making stick people is great fun and they can be used over and over again for imaginary play, like a puppet. They take on a character all of their own.
You can use whatever craft materials you have to hand and improvise with items from nature such as leaves and grasses.
Find a stick that interests you and add features such as hair and a face. I used a cardboard face and leaves for hair. I also made a simple stick person using a wooden spoon, a permanent marker for the face and some wool for their hair.
Try taking your stick person on a walk to explore your local area. Perhaps you can send in a picture of your stick person sitting somewhere interesting or hiding in a tree!