Baby Games: Playing with Plasticine

 Here is plasticine! Some parents think that it is very “dangerous” for home furniture: sticks to everything and leaves a greasy stain, as well as the fact that a child can simply swallow it. We hasten to reassure: plasticine is an excellent material for creative work, you just need to learn how to use it.

What to build from plasticine?
Building and designing is a very important lesson for a child who develops the creativity of hand movements, spatial thinking, the concept of color, shape of objects. In addition, modeling (not necessarily from plasticine) has beneficial effect on the nervous system. In general, the benefits of modeling studies are enormous.

What kind of plasticine is better to choose?
You should choose high quality plasticine; it should be neither too hard nor too soft and stretchy. If it sticks to your hands, it will be difficult to work with it. And if it’s too hard, the children find it difficult to stretch, and parts can fall apart.
Young children in any case should not be given plasticine with a fruit odor. If the yellow clay smells like lemon, orange – orange, and red one – strawberries, then the child will not model, but lick it, but it’s not what we want him to teach.

How to start plasticine building
First, remember that during teaching you have to be near the child, not only as a “guard” (to avoid eating it), but also as a designer (to model yourself, together with the child).
Secondly, do not overdo it with the complexity of tasks for your child; do not ask him/her too much. Remember that child is only familiar with the properties of plasticine, studying them and experimenting with methods of modeling.

What can a two year-old baby do with a plasticine?

• pinch off a piece of plasticine;
• flatten plasticine throughout the palm;
• poke a finger in rolled out layer;
• roll out of it “sausages”;
• a ball that the mother rolls, а little finger to make tortillas.
• cleave it to the paper or table;
• roll large balls of palms;
• cut “sausages”.

These actions are а basis of building classes. Develop these skills, expand and improve them.

How and what to design with your baby?

Select Color
Start by selecting the color of plasticine: suggest baby to choose, for example, from two colors (you should not just offer the whole box of clay). Do not select yourself – your preferences may strongly disagree.

Warming up
When color is selected, you can not expect that the baby will start to model something. First of all, each of you “train” a little bit and then start modeling.

plastikMain activities
Show your child how to knead the plasticine, nip off a piece for him/her and make a cake … In general, follow the basic steps described above. For the first class execution, a simple manipulation will be enough to interest the child.

”Sausages” and balls
Rolling “sausages” and balls from plasticine: two palms and one palm on a piece of cardboard or paper. The “sausage” can turn into a ring or a snake. Small balls could crush fingers.

Imprints
One of the most fascinating lessons for kids is making imprints on plasticine. You roll a flat cake of plasticine, and the baby pokes him in every way possible (or rather all that you offer him): a toy fork cap from the pen, his own finger, a spoon.

Modeling
Suggest your child to stick plasticine to a cup or any other capacity, which you can then decorate with beads or any other material – get a great bowl. For younger kids you can cut out a pattern of different figures and stick them on plasticine.

Plasticine and other materials
In plasticine modeling you can (and should!) use other materials: peas, beans, buckwheat, pasta of different shapes and colors, buttons, etc.
Roll out a cake from plasticine and ask the child to cleave small objects to them. Make sure that all these remarkable objects were placed on the plasticine, but not in his/her mouth.