- boxes (cardboard)
- containers
- marbles
- paper
- spoon
- tempera paints
- ramp
- roll
- slant
MA Standards:
English Language Arts/Language/L.PK.MA.6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, listening to books read aloud, activities, and play.
Head Start Outcomes:
Approaches to Learning/Initiative and Curiosity: Demonstrates flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness in approaching tasks and activities.
Literacy Knowledge/Early Writing: Experiments with writing tools and materials.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
Science and Technology/Inquiry Skills 3: Identify and use simple tools appropriately to extend observations.
Ramp Paintings
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
Skill Focus: Creative Expression, Fine Motor Skills, Vocabulary
Fill three or four containers with different paint colors. Add a marble and a spoon to each container.
- Next, put a piece of paper in the bottom of a shallow box.
- Model the procedure. Scoop the marble out of the paint and place it in the box.
- Then slant the box, like a ramp, to make the marble roll.
- Tilt the box in several different directions so the marble rolls around making an erratic line of paint.
- When the marble runs out of color, repeat the process with a marble in another color.
- Discuss the design the rolling marbles make.
Invite children to make their own marble paintings. Help them to write their names on the backs of their papers before they start.