Sprinkling Flour

Ever since my teaching days I have been a huge fan of flour and black paper. I think the black and white contrast is really appealing, especially for babies.

This is definitely not the cleanest activity but if you can relax into the mess there is lots of fun to be had. Plus the hoovering up afterwards can become an activity in itself.

Set Up

When I did this activity with my son I was able to move quicker enough to intercept if he was heading towards the bowl of flour. At 21 months this tub of flour needs to be high up if I don’t want the kitchen covered in flour.

To start the activity and build my son’s attention I sat opposite him and poured the flour into the sieve and from a height sprinkled it onto the black paper. My son found this mesmerising and sat and watched in wonder. To build his language I used phrases such as “ready, steady, sprinkle.”

When I thought I had exhausted his attention for sprinkling the flour, I followed my son’s lead and copied the marks he made in the flour.

My little one and I sat for ages and explored the marks he made in the flour. I gave the paper the occasional shake to redistribute the flour and then the mark making continued.

This is an activity for which you definitely need a hoover handy at the end.

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