If you’re collecting natural items, like leaves and seed pods, collage can also encourage outdoor exploration and a respect for nature. Be creative, as they experiment with different materials, techniques and designs of their own making.Work collaboratively, by sharing materials, tools and projects.Develop language and communication skills.Learn about different colours, textures and patterns.Collage can also help your under five to: The benefits of collage go beyond this, though. A huge hit here! <– That was written in 2008 and now over 2 years later my son still likes this book and has grown with it, now doing the counting all by himself.Collage is a great way to develop your young child’s fine motor skills.Ĭutting, tearing, placing and pasting all requires coordinated movements of their small finger and hand muscles, and your little one will be practising their fine motor skills whether they’re learning to glue on their first bits of paper, or getting to grips with a pair of scissors and a multitude of materials. I read it 4 times since getting it out of the library today. Before I even closed the book my son was signing for more. Ĭonstruction Countdown by K.C Olson is a counting book that uses backhoes, dump trucks and cement mixers among other things to count. I also like that there is a female crew member and her participation is seamless. I like that it explains the process from start to finish, in just the right level of detail for preschoolers. It’s a story all about how a road is built, explaining what the crew does, and how each type of construction vehicle has a different role in building a road. Maybe because of the plethora of lego that was taking over our house – however it has since become such a favorite he recently “read” it to my sister’s dog. Hennessy was a birthday gift for my son in November and he was not interested at first. All in all it’s been well loved over the years ! Now at almost 4 he will still grab it and read it to his imaginary friend Sammy who ” can’t read yet”. My son loved this book as an infant, at 2 he enjoyed reading it, as well as counting the workers and trucks on each page. Machines at Work by Byron Barton is a bold and bright book that is perfect for toddlers who are obsessed with construction vehicles. Hand them the brown paper and tell them that’s the dirt and they will be making piles so they need to cut it into small pieces.The older they are the more time they will likely take, don’t fret if they make a scribble or two and declare that they are finished. Invite your child to draw a construction site.Start by drawing a square, rectangle, and crescent on the yellow paper.You will need some construction paper in 4 colors ( brown, black, yellow and green), some kid scissors, adult scissors, markers or crayons and glue. I like crafts like this because it allows my son to manipulate the shapes, as you will see though his favorite part was the cutting step, it went on forever! Even if your child isn’t into bulldozers find something they love and see if you can break it down into shapes.
I can’t take full credit for this craft, instead I must admit it’s inspired by an episode of Team Umizoomi ( a show I just love).