As a Neurophysiologist, an Osteopath and a mum of 3 kids (one with Down Syndrome), I’m always interested in how every day tasks and activities can help children with their development.
Here’s an activity that’s fun, brilliant for developing kids’ hand eye co-ordination and has a lovely sensory component to it too. Oh and you get to have THAT conversation about matches and fire, which can only be a good thing can’t it? I told the kids what we were about to do and their eyes went wide. ‘What? We get to play with fire Mummy? Are you serious?
The boring science bit:
It’s through practice and repetition that our hand eye co-ordination improves and it’s actually quite a complicated process if you think about it. You need to be able to co-ordinate your eye movements to look at what you want to look at, process the information that comes in through your eyes (your visual input) and then generate appropriate hand movements to achieve what you want to do. e.g. reach and grasp something off the table, have a drink or, more delicate operations like tying your shoe laces, holding a pen and writing etc. Helping children to develop their hand eye co-ordination enables them to do things more easily and ultimately without them having to stop and think about them first.
Crafts for Hand Eye Co-ordination – Candle Dripping
Candle dripping is something my Mum used to set me up with when she needed some peace and quiet. Very brave of her considering I had long hair…!
Apart from being lots of fun for kids, it’s an absolutely brilliant craft for hand eye co-ordination and it’s SO SIMPLE!
What you need:
- A bowl or plate of cold water (I prefer pale ones as it contrasts better with the candle wax)
- One or more candles – the more colours the better but they’ll still love it if you only have one white one.
- Kitchen roll to wrap around the bottom of the candle so it doesn’t drip hot wax on them.
- Matches
- A jug or cup to stand candles in when you’ve finished with them.
What you do:
- ***Roll up any sleeves and tie back any long hair***
- ***Remind your child that flames and melted wax are HOT***
- Sit at a table with the bowl or plate of water in front of the child.
- Light a candle.
- Hold the candle over the bowl of water tipping it lighted end down towards the water by about 45 degrees. As the wax melts, it will drip on to the surface of the water and float around before solidifying. Like this….
The fun is trying to get the next drip to ‘stick’ to the others on the water so they all stick together. This can be a bit of a challenge, particularly if you swish the water about a bit with a spoon or tap on the surface of the water!
You can also drop ice cubes into the water, or pieces of pasta, to give them something to aim for. Using ice is a cool way to make 3D shapes. The wax solidifies on contact with the ice and when the ice melts, you’re just left with the shape.
You can make patterns and ‘draw’ pictures, such as handbags and choir boys wearing unusual hats:
Then you can either keep them, mess about with them or break them. They’re surprisingly tactile!
The top surface is very smooth but when you lift them up out of the water, they look like this underneath, rather like this striking alien caviar:
Just don’t get distracted on your phone or cooking the tea while little Johnny fires up the rest of the candles and starts waving them all around or seeing if they smell nice…
This looks like a great idea for older kids – don’t think I’m ready to try it with Sprog yet though. Thanks for linking up to #imaginationmatters
I’m not sure how old your small is but I did it hand over hand with our little one. His eyes were as big as soup plates!
Great idea, my toddler would love this! #brillblogposts
Wow, this is so good I’ve never seen anyone do this before! My son would love this, though to be honest he is nearly six and I’m still not sure he would be ok playing with lit candles! I guess there is only one way to find out! Love your choirboy design too. Thanks for linking up to #sundaystars
Well that’s true! The desire to do it may encourage co-operation on the safety front 😉 Thank you for your lovely comments and I’m loving #sundaystars!
This looks amazing!! It’s something I’d love to try….no scrap that I will try!! Lovely post. Thanks for linking up with us on the #bigfatlinky
They’ve been doing it every night since. I hope they get bored soon / we run out of candles because I need my measuring jug back. Thank you so much for popping in x
This looks like great fun. Ill bank it for when the children are older. Thanks for sharing and and linking up to #bigfatlinky
That looks great fun! How great that you used to do this as a child too. I must try this when O is a little older, he’s only 3 and likely to put his hand in the flame or wave it around! 🙂 x
ooh yes – I think 3 year olds might catch fire quite easily. I remember having so much fun just playing with the candle drips in the water, so he might find that part fun! Thank you so much for your lovely comment x
This looks like a lot of fun, and not something I have seen before either! I used to make candles from old bits of wax when I was a child, and use my Mum’s kiln to make dolls, and use a saw to make my own dolls house furniture, and I am sure if my Mum had known about this, then we would have been doing it. #brilliantblogposts
oh wow – you sound like you had great craft experiences as a child. Your Mum is obviously very creative, I’d love to be able to pot! Thank you so much for popping by, Emily x
Wow so beautiful and fun, must try this! Thanks for linking up x
Yes it really is! x
Wow that is amazing, I haven’t seen this before. Might be something to try with my 3.5 year old (when she’s not wearing a Disney princess dress!).
Oh my goodness, yes, could you imagine?? I think princesses are probably very flammable. You could make circles and then hang them up on thread in the window 🙂