We Play: For Fresh, Fun Play Ideas

ByChristie Burnett

As Immy was drawing with a brand new set of felt tipped pens this week, I was reflecting on her drawing and how much it has changed in such a short time when all of a sudden I realised that whenever we draw it is usually on A4 or smaller paper (I generally buy A4 sized sketch books and she has one on the go at a time). We paint on bigger paper but never seem to draw on it. So the next morning I suggested Immy had a go at drawing on the bigger paper at her easel.
And she loved it. She was singing and chatting away to herself as she made much bigger arm movements and lines which curved across the top and along one side. There was rain and lightening and all sort of wonderful lines and marks being made. I found it fascinating that changing one small thing, like the scale of the paper, could have such a profound effect.
We will definitely be going LARGE again soon 🙂

My favourite post from last week is over here (though I must warn you, I chose it because I am very, very jealous! LOL)

This week a quick reminder – when posting your We Play links please remember that this link up is for sharing play ideas and it is important to link to a recent, specific post – not your blog home URL.

What have you been playing this week…

Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.

15 Comments

  1. I always give Princess A3 paper, but for myseld I prefer A4. I was realizing this after we did our first day of Project 59 (still unfinished!) and on the second day offered the smaller size for a change.

    Now she is working on really, really tiny pieces of paper. No mor missing signs, now she is making me bookmarks for my library books!

  2. This is my first time joining in with We Play, thanks for hosting. 🙂

  3. Gill@OurParklife says:

    She looks quite the little artist! I hadn't even realized but I mostly supply my little guy with A4 paper for drawing….Time to mix it up!

    Thanks for another great play post

  4. mountainwildlife says:

    Another great idea for HUGE paper is the big rolls of butchers/packing paper.
    I managed to get some locally on ebay, about 120cm wide and who knows how many metres on a roll, well into the hundreds! They are fantastic for big scale drawing, but we also use them for enormously long mural paintings and craft ideas.
    When they are done we often use the painted paper for gift wrapping.
    I think you can also get them at big stationery stores, they are great value.
    When its on a roll the picture only ends when your child runs out of ideas!

  5. The girl who painted trees says:

    Looks like she is having fun.

  6. Cathy at NurtureStore says:

    Could I make a request? I wondered if you could add a code box under the 'We Play' button in the sidebar to make it easy for us to grab the code to link on our posts. 🙂

  7. Be A Fun Mum says:

    OOOOO, we haven't done large for a while! Thank you Chritie…

  8. Mom and Kiddo says:

    I agree that giving kids large paper is great. It gives them a new perspective and a new way of imagining art. Sometimes we spread butcher paper on the floor.

  9. love that! Love that changing one thing can have such a big impact! This just gave me the idea to grab some of our big paper and get to drawing!

  10. (V.Kerr) School Time Adventures says:

    This is the first time I have stumbled onto your site…I love the fun posts!

    We posted about painting with a 14-month-old.

    Thanks,
    Vanessa

  11. Jackie H. says:

    I love how she is reaching up to the tip top to use all of her coloring space 🙂 This reminds me of when I was a kid, my parents would get roll paper and roll it all the way down our hallway. (We had wood floors so it was a hard surface.) Then everyone would lay on their tummies (including my parents) in the door ways and color on the large paper. So many great childhood memories and conversations were made there!

  12. Thanks for hosting this wonderful carnival! Such a great way to share ideas.

  13. Awesome! It's so wonderful when a simple change from the ordinary makes something extraordinary! Great lesson!

  14. Thanks Christie, for choosing my post as your favourite! And I haven't even had a chance to do a we play post this week either 🙁 Oh well, I still get to check out all the other lovely ideas!

    We currently have our easel out doing nothing at the moment but taking up space! Will have to get out some drawing stuff for the kids to have a go at!

  15. Finally, I have got my act together and jumped on board. Now I am off to check out the other ideas. Thank you so much for hosting this Christie.

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