Make Your Own Texture Plates for Preschoolers

I had an "Ah ha" moment this morning as I was about to throw away a large scrap of nonskid rug pad. The other day, I was trying to show my left handed preschooler how to hold her paper still over a plastic texture sheet and color with her crayon. I think that due to her age and to her left hand preference, she was having a lot of trouble keeping things from shifting. The idea of the rug pad is that it doesn't move. So I got out my scissors and cut some shapes.



I made letters. I made simple shapes like a fish, a house, the moon, a car, an apple tree, a pine tree, a heart, and a tulip. I also made some basic, building block shapes like a long rectangle that could be used as a stem, squares and triangles that could be made into buildings, etc. The kids can assemble pictures on the table, place their paper on top and even tape the paper in place if helpful, and rub with the side of the crayon. It works like a charm! And of course, rug pads come in all textures so collecting scraps of different types will yield different effects. I thought I'd throw the idea out there in case anyone wants to give it a try!