This activity is perfect for parents of car lovers or kids who love watching things fly down ramps! Painting with cars is a huge hit with toddlers and preschoolers, and makes for a fun rainy day art project, but adding a ramp element makes this even more magical. Plus, ramps make for a great intro to STEM activity, so if you’re looking for an easy craft activity with a learning twist, look no further!
Materials:Â
- A box or two if doing this indoors
- Tape
- Washable paint
- Craft paper
- Tray
- Toy vehicles/cars (different colored)
How To:Â
- Take a box (ones from Costco are perfect for this) and undo the flaps on both ends.
- Tape one end to a table and place the other end inside of a large box to contain the mess. Kids can help with this step by peeling the tape which, helps work on their pincer grasp (using their thumb and index finger).Â
- Tape a roll of craft paper to your ramp and set out a tray filled with rainbow colored washable paint. Let kids work on their motor control and allow them to pour the paint themselves on the tray.Â
- Have kids match the correctly colored car to the paint and let them paint tracks on the paper by rolling cars down the ramp. This allows kids to work on recognizing similarities among objects and lets them observe differences as well. Race two or three cars and observe if a certain car goes faster than another -Â this is a great way to introduce kids to pre math skills like weight and velocity!
- When you’re finished, you can extend this activity by throwing the cars in a bucket of water and having a car wash. This gives kids an opportunity to work on fine motor hand skills!Â
Skill areas addressed:Â
- Fine motor skills,
- Math skills
- Expressive and receptive language
- Matching
- CreativityÂ
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