Friday, April 5, 2019

Magnetic Monsters

Magnetic tiles are such a versatile toy, but have you ever tried drawing on them? We had a blast turning ours into magnetic monsters!



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What you need:
-magnetic tiles (we used our beloved Picasso Tiles)
- an appropriate writing tool (we used Wonder Stix which were perfect, they wiped right off! Dry erase markers would also work)

- a large magnetic surface to play on

How it works:
This is such an inviting set up for kids. My 2 year old and 5 year old love playing with their Picasso Tiles. Adding an art element to the play completely freshened up the session and brought about so much new creativity.



To start with I set big bro up with some tiles and the Wonder Stix on a tray. I wanted to give him the chance to make some fun monster body parts which he could use with baby sis before we started working on the magnetic surface together.



We then took our play to the side of our oven which is magnetic. We had a blast constantly rearranging all of the monster parts, creating some pretty crazy beasts!



After a while the kids started to add more detail to the tiles using the Wonder Stix. I loved that I didn't need to worry about the Wonder Stix damaging the surfaces. They wipe right off any non-porous surface (such as the tiles and the side of my oven!).



Baby sis was just as happy to contribute. Her monster parts may have not been as well-formed as big bro, but that didn't matter at all. She happily drew and told us about the parts she created.



This set up not only provided a new injection of creative inspiration, but it also meant both kids were working over-time on their fine and gross motor skills. Working on a vertical surface has huge developmental benefits!



I also loved that they could work collaboratively on this project! The picture below is one of my all-time favorites - both totally lost in their creativity!



This is definitely an activity we will repeat. I'd never thought to write and draw on the tiles before, but it really did inspire some fun new play ideas.


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