Ink blotting

DATE: 25th July, 2022
When was it done : Small Group

Materials Required :

  1. Cotton sheet 

  2.  Trays

  3. Ink droppers

  4. Diluted tempera paints

Activity Prep:

Cotton sheets were spread properly in the trays with the ink droppers. Tempera paints were diluted from before and kept in different glasses.

Invitation Set-up:

To set up invites for this activity, cotton sheets sprayed with some water  were spread in two trays,  ink droppers were also placed in a plate over the table. Different shades of tempera paints were diluted with water and kept in glasses and were given to each one.

Process:

The facilitator placed the tray with a wet cotton sheet on the table and different shades of tempera paints were given to the children along with an ink dropper, then the facilitator showed the activity process by dipping the ink dropper in a color and then dropping it over the wet cotton sheet in the tray.

Children’s Response:

Children enjoyed this activity as different colors were spreading over the wet cotton sheet. Kids were also introduced to ink droppers which they seemed to like as the squeezing was fun to them. 

Skills required:

  • Fine Motors Skills - Ink blotting requires one to squeeze the dropper in order to drop paints into the cotton sheet and make different colourful patterns. This activity, thus, promotes development of fine motor muscles that are present in our fingers.

  • Eye-Hand coordination - In order to complete the task at hand, i.e., ink blotting, one would require accurate hand-eye coordination to drop the color into the cotton sheet and form a different pattern. Therefore, this activity promotes hand-eye coordination in children.

  • Attention, focus and concentration -  As children discover that properly squeezing the droppers will make the different colors drop on the cotton sheets and create new and exciting patterns, they keep trying to create more new patterns and experimenting with colors as well. This retains their attention, focus and concentration during the course of the activity, which helps in building the same.

First Steps Afternoon, Small GroupSohini Talukdar