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The Empowered Educator

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Plunger Painting – Fun for all ages!

by The Empowered Educator 1 Comment

When I saw these small plungers while out shopping last week I knew I had to have them. Now I realise not everyone would look at sink plungers and immediately think ‘yes, I need 5 of them!” but it's the way my mind works!

Actually the look the cashier gave me as I plonked them all down at the checkout was indeed quite priceless. Is it just me or do you find yourself often saying “I run a family day care service they aren't just for me”.

I've actually got a few ideas in mind for these little beauties but I decided to do the obvious first. Well I thought it was obvious when I saw them!
 
I grabbed some plastic bowls, added some paint and we were ready to go…
 
 
A little word of warning…this activity is best done outside as they can get rather ‘exuberant' with the plunging and paint.
 
 
The activity appealed to the mixed age group with the preschoolers enjoying it as much as the toddlers.
 

It encouraged lots of communication about colours and big circles. The older girls also worked out they could make patterns and representations like caterpillars.

The toddlers just loved being able to use their muscles and push down hard on the paper to make circles and splatters.

Having to grasp the longer handles and push down hard was a very different movement from using a brush to paint with. The old children soon worked out that they had more control if they grasped the handle lower down toward the plunger.
 
 
 
This activity is not only lots of fun but it's really easy to clean up. Just a quick rinse of the plungers in a bucket of water and some plastic over the trays to keep the paint for another day.
 

They make lovely prints and the children were very excited to show their parents their ‘circles' that afternoon.

 
I've got some more ideas for ways to use the plungers coming up soon…..in the meantime let's see what else I can find to shock the checkout operator!
 

Looking for more inspiration like this for early learning? Join early childhood educators  from across the world in the Empowered Educator Community.

 

 

A Little About Me

Jodie Clarke is an early childhood professional supporting educators who want and need to stay passionate about the work they do! She has 30 years hands-on experience in the early childhood and human services sectors across many different roles.


Jodie is mum to 3 in Australia and has already helped thousands of educators with their work through her popular blog posts, activity ideas, online training and e-books.

Filed Under: fine motor fun, outside play

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Comments

  1. Linnae says

    06/08/2014 at 2:57 am

    This made me laugh! Once I bought 7 extra large packages of cotton balls at the dollar store for an indoor snow play time (we put them in a large bin with scoops and various kitchen containers–it was great!) The cashier said something like, “Hmmm…700 cotton balls. Think that’ll be enough?” Ha ha! I assured him I would be back if it wasn’t! 🙂 Looks like the kiddos had lots of fun with those plungers. Good work!

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Jodie
Hi, I'm Jode, Mum to twins and a teen, and an early childhood educator.
I love to share ideas & resources for play based learning
Find out more about me here...

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