Press Here Activities (colours, patterns and directions)
I’m sure you’ve seen this book by now. Cam chose to buy this book on National Bookshop Day 2012, and it remains a firm favourite in our home. Kids just don’t seem to tire of this book, and parents will be thrilled to see the delight on their children’s faces as they work through this book.
Press Here is brilliantly clever. Hervé Tullet proves that the humble book is every bit as interactive as all the wonderful devices and apps currently available for children.
Each page of Press Here is plastered with dots and accompanying those dots are directions for the reader to follow. It may present as a simple book, but it leaves children feeling as if they’re creating magic. With each turn of the page, children feel that they are in control of the changing dots.
We’ve had a ball exploring some of the concepts presented in Press Here:
1. Creating a Chatterbox: Exploring directions/instructions and developing gross and fine motor skills
2. Bubble Wrap Printing: Exploring primary and secondary colours and creating patterns and images using dots
3. Dot Stickers: Recognising and creating patterns and sequences
1. CHATTER BOX: Creating and following instructions of your own
PREPARING THE CHATTERBOX
1. Fold a chatterbox. We used these instructions.
2. Unfold the chatterbox.
3. Add a coloured dot and a number to all of the corner sections (1-4) and outer triangles of the chatterbox (5-8)
4. Create a list of actions
5. Write these actions on the inner triangles of the chatterbox
6. Refold the chatterbox
USING THE CHATTERBOX:
- Place your fingers inside the four sections at the bottom of the chatterbox
- Ask your partner to choose a colour/number (depending on the age of child)
- Open and close the chatterbox according to the number selected by your partner
- Ask your partner to choose a colour or number from the inner section
- Open the selected flap and read the action
- Ask your partner to perform the action
SO MUCH FUN and also a great way to help your child develop gross and fine motor skills.
2. BUBBLE PRINTING: Exploring primary and secondary colours
We saw the idea of mono-printing on Picklebums. We didn’t have tiles so we decided to try using bubble wrap (which created dots- perfect for Press Here activities).
1. Paint on the bubble wrap
2. Press paper over the top of the paint
3. Remove paper to reveal a print
We painted and printed circles using primary colours:
We overlapped the circles to create secondary colours:
We created colourful DOTTY patterns……………………and turned them into pictures:
3. DOT STICKERS: Exploring patterns and sequences
1. Talk about the patterns/sequences in the book
2. Use the stickers to re-create patterns/sequences that appear in the book
3. Children can create their own patterns/sequences
4. Create pictures with the coloured dots
