DIY (with kids). Easy craft (Montessori inspired): how to make fruits and vegetables out of cardboard.
Hello everyone!
We are back updating this DIY (with kids) post, an easy craft idea for children from 2 or 3 years old with Montessori inspiration. We show you how to make cardboard fruits and vegetables with children who are starting to count to 10 (or more).
Help your children understand basic mathematical concepts.
Our son became interested in numbers some time ago. A few months ago, we started drawing, cutting and playing with cardboard fruits that we made together. It is an easy and simple way to enjoy an activity together, letting them draw and colour the shapes initially traced by the adult. Of course, the adult's help will depend on the age of the child, it is something you can adapt according to your family.
PLAYING TOGETHER
Sacha now uses the fruits to count to more than ten, but he also uses them to play. Sometimes he cooks the vegetables and then eats them together with the fruit. Sometimes he puts them in a basket or a box and plays at being the shop assistant in a fruit shop, sells them and asks for something in exchange for them (he usually barters, as he does not yet understand the value of a coin or money). Other times, he plays at planting seeds in the ground, waits for a while and then picks them up when they are already grown, as in the vegetable garden. It seems to us that this is a simple imitation game that allows us to imagine.
Materials you will need:
A cardboard box in which to store the fruit and vegetables you create.
One or several pieces of cardboard, depending on the size, recycled from any box you have at home.
Coloured markers or any other type of paint.
A pair of scissors.
steps to follow:
Let your child draw the shapes of the fruits and vegetables on the piece of cardboard or draw them for him/her (depending on his/her age) so that he/she can colour them in later.
Spend time with him/her while colouring or colouring the pieces together.
Once they are all coloured in, cut them out with scissors or let him/her do it (depending on his/her age).
When you have them all cut out, you can start playing and then store them in the cardboard box to reuse the game at another time.
Developing creativity
There are plenty of free, ready-to-download templates available on the Internet with fruits or vegetables for children to start familiarising themselves with mathematical concepts, but at home we think that giving children the opportunity to participate in the creation of the game, of the object they will later play with, is very important to develop creativity and to allow them to better understand its value. Moreover, the availability and the time we spend with them in the creation of the game will give even more value to the activity and to the game itself.