Bored?
Don't know what to do?
If you have a roll of masking tape you can have hours of fun!
Try a few of these ideas:
1. Create a giant boat, tree, rocket ship etc. on the floor and play inside your pretend item!
This is a very simple, but powerful was to engage children in dramatic play.
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2. Create roads, train tracks, parking spots
3. Create mazes
see http://www.handsonaswegrow.com for more maze fun ideas.
This idea was also featured May 29, 2012 in this blog's post entitled Life Size Maze/City
4. Create Games: Hopscotch
*Tic-tac-toe
* Long jump starting line
(Measure how far everyone can jump. Then try to beat your record.)
* Four Square - add a soft medium size ball and you are ready to go
When my son was in fourth grade he made a four square on our basement
floor that he and his friends had great fun with. The masking tape four square
provided hours of fun for many years, even through junior high.
5. Obstacle course- this can be good for role play as well as large motor skill development.
Tape back and forth across a small room or hallway. Kids take turns crawling and stepping over
without touching the tape. This could also be done in a large refrigerator box.
As much fun as this is for little ones, don't forget the older kids.
Tweens would LOVE to create complex designs and then test their skills!
6. Put random pieces on a table top, counter or the front of the refrigerator and let toddlers pick the
pieces off. This is an excellent activity to help develop fine motor skills.
7. Using masking tape make lines or a design on a table top. Then using a straw blow a pom pom
along the lines. Can you create the streets in your neighborhood and then "blow" your way
home? Make sure to create a little masking tape house that represents where you live.
8. Spider Web Food Catch Game: Create a giant spider web in a doorway using masking tape
(painter's tape will be easier to remove and not leave a sticky residue on the wood). Have each
child create a bowl or plastic baggie full of tiny balls of paper wads. This would be a good use for
recycled paper. Or, you could supply each child with cotton balls. Then let kids pretend to be
flies or insects that get "caught" in the spider web. How many flies can the spider catch?
9. Create shapes on the floor with your tape. Then practice throwing bean bags into the square, then
the triangle, then the rectangle, etc.
Create a draw and throw game. Using 3x5 note cards draw whatever shapes you have made on the floor. Make 4 or 5 of the same shape. Then have child draw a shape and toss a bean bag into the corresponding shape.
Directions for making simple bean bags can be found on October 22, 2012 post on this blog entitled Jiffy, Nifty Bean Bag.
No time to make a bean bag? Try throwing cotton balls, small balls of foil, rolled up socks or paper wad.
10. Make a balance beam and walk the "line"
11. Create images for amazing story telling!
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This is Goliath from the Bible Story
He is really nine feet tall.
Kids have fun laying down with their heels at the bottom of his feet to see how tall he really was!
12. And when the roll of masking tape is empty, don't forget to decorate the cardboard circle that is
left making an awesome bracelet!
13. Use the empty masking tape ring as a stencil!
14. Don't forget the easiest activity of all... play with the sticky. Pull off a piece of tape and stick it
together to form a circle. Put your hand inside so the tape wraps around the palm of your hand.
What can you pick up? How does it feel when you press it on and remove it from your fingers
on the other hand? How much lint can you remove from the couch, a pillow or your shirt/pants?
What else can you think of to do with masking tape? I suppose the possibilities are endless!
Have fun!
