Having Some Fun With Do-A-Dot Art!

Although when I first saw these "Dot Markers" in the store my first instinct was to think that they were just over-priced bingo dabbers. Then I started thinking are regular bingo markers non-toxic, conform to the astm standards and most importantly "WASHABLE"? So when I received my 40% off coupon for Michael's I picked up a box for the boys.



We have been having a lot of fun this week making different things with them. Including "tracing" our names...

Then I made a grid using Word and printed it out to work on some Fine Motor and Eye Hand Coordination skills. I asked the boys to put one dot in each square. The two year just had a ball putting dots everywhere and anywhere where my four year old took some time with this one.

This was not my original idea as I saw it on someone's blog but for the life of me I can not find it again, I know I should have written it down especially since I thought it was such a good idea!! If someone is reading this and knows where the idea was posted please let me know so I can give credit where it is due.

Then I decided to make a sequence card using the grid from the project above. We do this a lot with counters and such but my son did much better with the marker version of this game. I think it may have been that the lines were longer allowing for more repetition.

Then I printed out some basic shape templates to decorate from over at Preschool Express, which is an excellent site if you are not familiar with it.

And last but not least, we did some pictures from the Do-A-Dot series of "coloring" books although I forgot to take a picture of a finished product.

The boys had a great time with these markers and the mess was very minimal. I also think that with there grooved sides it was also good practice for my son to work on his "tripod" grasp which he is still having some trouble with.