Learning to write letters and numbers can be frustrating for little hands! I like to offer lots of play activities that help build those fine motor skills in a relaxed, fun way. Toddlers and up will enjoy making shapes, swirls, and even letters on a ziploc bag filled with paint!
To make your own paint bag writing tablet, put some finger paint or tempera paint into a sturdy freezer ziploc bag. Seal it well and smoosh the paint around the entire bag. (You could even add a strip of packing tape across the top if you are worried about your child opening the bag!) That’s it!
We like to tape ours down to the table so it doesn’t wiggle around too much. Try doodling and writing with your finger first. Your child may also enjoy using a cotton swab to write with. When your tablet is full of scribbles (or sight words for older kids!), smoosh and smear the paint around and start over. No mess, just fun!
Happy playing!
More fine-motor activities:
- Rainbow Writing
- Playing with Wikki Stix
- Finger + Hand Work (including our fun Mr. Potato Head pumpkins!)
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I love this idea so much! I have been thinking about doing a sand tray for my 4 yr old but have been putting it off because of the potential mess. This solves my problem beautifully. Thanks!
i absolutely ADORE this idea!!!
We are so doing this this afternoon… thanks!
what a great idea! this will come in very handy hwen my little guy is a bit older
Ooh! So great! Thank you for all these fun ideas!
Thank you for this non-pencil activity.
My four year old boy melts down when he sees a pencil (unless it’s for mazes). He will really enjoy this while getting the letter/number practice.
Love that idea! I think my 2.5 year old twins would have a great time making scribbles on something like that. How fun!
tried the paint bags and it didn’t really work well. did i use too much paint? i love the idea. how do i make it better?
Thanks everyone for the lovely comments!
Andrea – maybe you used too much paint? You just need enough to coat the inside of the bag with a thin layer. What kind of paint did you use? I did just a few squirts from my bottle of washable tempera paint. Hope that helps!
Genius!
This is a great idea. I’ve also seen it done where you put two different colors in a bag and have the child mix before writing. Adds a little something extra. Mixing red and yellow to make orange before working on letters or numbers.
Love this idea!!!
What a great idea!! My kids are gonna love this. Thanks for sharing!
Blessings,
Shannon
I like that this is an activity that could be catered to the very young as well as older toddlers. My one year old would have fun squishing the paint around and my three year old would get a kick out of making shapes and patterns. I certainly will be keeping this in mind when it comes to learning letters. Thank you for sharing.
I did this and posted about it! Thanks for the great Idea!
http://littlehandsbigwork.blogspot.com/2009/10/zip-lock-bag-paint.html
This idea is amazing! I’ve used the tempera paint in the bag to teach how colors are made, never thought about “painting” with the bag!
Thank you for this great idea, we will try
This is actually a great activity for kids with sensory issues, too. You can use it to introduce fingerpainting which can be upsetting to kids who don’t like that feeling of getting their hands messy.
I made these for my kids last week and they were a big hit! Especially with my 2-year-old. She sat at the table for 45 minutes playing with this while I made diner. Also, I am using these for teaching our letter and number at preschool this week. Thanks for the wonderful (and oh-so-easy) idea!
omg, this idea is fantastic, i want my child to paint without the mess and this is a great idea. am going to suggest we do this at playgroup.
very interesting thank you!
What a great idea. My daughter will love this.
Thanks for sharing! I did this with my 3 year old today. I put in squirts of three different colors, and he had fun blending and using his fingers and different toys to draw on the bag.
Love this! Thanks for sharing.
I put colored hair gel in the bags and lay the letter cards to practice underneath.
I hope to do this w/ a class of 2-3 yr olds at our church. What could I use besides paint? hmmm…I need to come up w/ an idea. Guess I will look in the cupboards and try try try. Thank you!
We do this in Kindergarten at our writing center. It’s better than chalk and boards and not as expensive as buying Expo markers when they forget to put the tops back on. You could also put some some shaving cream on a table and let them write in this…not only do they get to play but also are helping you clean.
Just stopping by to let you know that I’ve featured your craft on Family Fun Crafts! You can see it here:
http://funfamilycrafts.com/paint-bag-writing-tablet/
If you have other kid friendly crafts, I’d love it if you would submit them.
If you would like to display a
featured button on your site, you can grab one from the right side bar of your post above.
I found you on Pinterest. I did this activity with my kids today, and they really loved it. I featured the idea on my blog with a link back to you.
I love this idea and will do it with my kids tomorrow! They got fingerprints for Christmas but I was waiting for it to be nice out to prevent a mess in the house. Problem solved! Thank you!!!!
Fun fact: You can hot glue the top of the bag shut, using a low temp hot glue gun (if you can’t find your packing tape, maybe that happened to me this morning)
My kindergarteners loved this! Thanks for posting. I’ve also had success squishing a thin layer of play dough into the lid of large yogurt container and having my students practice writing their letters or words with a golf tee. Just stack the lids and store them in a Ziploc bag and you’re ready to use them again next time.
instead of a q-tip use this to help your child learn the proper way to hold a pencil, and it’s free..http://www.tipsystylus.com/free
btw love the idea, sorry, forgot to say that. I was too excited to tell you of the tool to help the play be more fun and helpful too.
Thanks, Denise – I’ll check it out!
Wondering if you could use shaving cream and food color in the bag? Has anyone try that yet?
great idea, saw it on pinterest and made it at our house, and the kids loved it. thanks for sharing!
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