The Imagination Tree

Creative play and learning for kids

30 Days to Hands on Play Challenge: Mega Floor Doodles!

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Day 7 Challenge: 

 Mega Floor Doodles!

 This challenge is SUPER fun and requires only:

  • floor space
  • crayons/ pencils or marker pens 
  • paper
  • sticky tape 
  • 15 minutes of uninterrupted play time!
Here’s the play prompt: 
Lay out lots of sheets of paper or large paper from a roll all over the floor and tape it together so it becomes one large piece. (You could also use the reverse side of wrapping paper or lining paper on a roll?)
Set out a tub of crayons/ pens/ chalk/ pencils (whichever is safest to use with your little one) and let your child(ren) at it!! 
I managed to set this up in about 5 minutes when they weren’t in the room, so they were really excited to see it when they came back in and started straight away! I sat down with them and started to doodle, scribble and eventually draw pictures of things that they asked for. They added to them, with Cakie drawing roads and animals and Pop furiously scribbling and colouring-in everything and anything as fast as she could! 
(Side note: I don’t encourage drawing for children in general, as it encourages them to become dependent on adults and less sure of their own ability. As this was a joint play experience I felt it was a slightly different circumstance and they loved it, as well as being happy to draw/ scribble independently.)


 Pop found a book filled with stickers and spontaneously added those to shapes that had been drawn too.

 
They absolutely LOVED this play time together. I loved how collaborative it was, and the opportunity to explain that it doesn’t matter if your little sister colours over your drawing (oops!)

I noticed how much we talked about what we were doing and that C began to tell stories about the characters and animals as they appeared across the paper. It kept them occupied and engaged for much longer than the “required” 15 minutes and we actually left it out all day, coming back to it frequently and adding to it as the day progressed, which was fun!

Now it’s YOUR turn!

You could put your paper on the wall? over a door? going up the stairs? outside? Whatever or wherever you like!

Could you add play people? cars? trains? animals? Turn it into a small world play experience like this huge interactive town we made in a cardboard box?! 

What does YOUR child want to do?!

[Please remember, this is just a play prompt. You are not being asked to replicate any of the ideas exactly from this 30 Day Challenge! We hope to spark an idea for an activity and give an opportunity to try something a bit different each day and the emphasis is very much on having relaxed, good fun and a really engaged play session.]

Let us know what fun ideas you had and adaptations you made by leaving a comment! You can also join the discussion over at The Play Network


Be sure to sign up to receive these challenges directly in your email inbox each morning!


It’s not too late to join the challenge! Read the original post here and go back to see what has been suggested already. Either start there or jump right in!

Tomorrow hands on: as we grow will have the challenge for day 8! ( Is it only day 7?! I’m exhausted already!!)


If you are writing about this challenge on your own blog you may wish to use this button to let people know!

For those looking for the 5-a-Day books link up it will be back next week! If you write your book lists please save them to link up two next week. Can’t wait to read them!

Comments

  1. Rashmie @ MommyLabs says

    Anna,
    This is an absolutely fantastic play idea! Loved it to the hilt – so open-ended, collaborative, engaging!

    You know what – we are in the middle of something similar today and what a coincidence that your today’s challenge is on the similar lines. I’d be writing about what we have already started playing – on paper, with paint and stuff.

  5. Amanda says

    I have a roll of old fax paper that has been waiting for a use. I keep saying, I will get it out and let the kids draw on it, but it is still in the packaging! Thanks for inspiring me =)

  8. critters and crayons says

    We totally did it this morning- fun photos! Will post on my FB Fan page- If there is a place to post photos of our challenge, let me know and I’ll post there, too- 🙂 Super idea!

  9. Ellie says

    Thanks Anna – such a great idea, we had so much fun doing it together, managed to very successfully prevent some fractious squabbles escalating late this afternoon. Love you ideas, inspiring as always.

    Ellie

  15. Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

    Monika, they just really enjoyed doing it alongside me so it wasn’t hard. But we also left it out all day and they came back to it on and off. By adding blocks, cars, trains and figures it becomes an interactive small world imaginative play. Maybe that could extend the interest for yours?