For those of you that follow us on Twitter or Instagram, you may also have seen the messy fun we had on Friday trying out an array of wonderful equipment from Early Years Resources to help practise mark making. 

What is Mark making? It’s simply making marks using pens, paints, pencils..anything really and it helps to prepare children for learning to write. Painting with a paint brush or even squirting paint with a pipette might just look like messy fun, but it’s helping children develop their fine motor skills, pencil grip, hand strength and also their understanding that we can use marks to communicate and express ourselves. 

Included in the First Mark Making Pack that we were kindly sent are a range of paint brushes, chubby mark makers, paint bellows, droppers, paint scrapers, polystyrene balls, string, glue spreaders, plastic cotton reels and wooden pattern rolling pins. Basically everything you could ever need to encourage even the most reluctant of mark makers to join in! 

We set them up on our tuff tray and let the kids loose.. here’s our before and after shots!

Before…

…after

What did we like about it? 

• Encourages Mark Making-  Some children dont like doing painting, drawing and colouring. This can be because they find it difficult for various different reasons or  it can simply be that they prefer other activities. But mark making is important and in my opinion, where possible, it needs to be encouraged. That’s why I really loved the Mark Making Pack. The range of implements from rolling pins to paint scrapers ensure there’s something to entice everyone into joining in! It also means it caters for a range of abilities and supports a child’s mark making development with equipment to stretch their skills. 

• Engaging– We soon realised during the activity that there was absolutely no chance of the children getting bored! The range of implements kept them engaged for hours. 

• Develops Fine Motor Skills- As I mentioned earlier, using mark Making implements helps to develop children’s fine motor skills. That’s because children have to use and develop the tiny muscles in their hands and fingers as they are using the equipment. Find out more about Fine Motor Skills here. 

• Develops a Love of Art and Crafts- There are numerous benefits of children taking part in art and craft activities. For example, it can be very relaxing and therapeutic. It can also help them express their emotions. We loved how the Mark Making Pack really encourages children to enjoy art and crafts.