Learn Through Play – Fairtrade Play Activities
Fairtrade Fortnight Activities for Children
I wanted to talk to my daughter, Tilly (4), about Fairtrade. I knew that the best way to do it was through play. I decided to base a messy play activity around the Fairtrade logo because I knew this would lead to lots of questions and allow a natural conversation to happen around the subject.
Oobleck Watercolour Messy Play
Step 1: Mix up the Oobleck
Oobleck is made by mixing cornflour and water to form a gloopy texture and is often used in messy play activities. To make it so it can be painted on, the same ingredients are used but in different ratios.
Top Tip
Use as little water as possible to make the mixture. You need to remove the surface layer of water before it is ready for painting on so you may need to leave the tray out in the sunshine or near a radiator until it has evaporated off.
Step 2: Paint the outline of your Fairtrade Logo
Once the oobleck was ready, I painted the outline of the fairtrade logo onto it with OkoNorm watercolours and then invited Tilly to fill it in.
While she painted we very naturally talked about fairtrade – what it is, how we can tell if something is fairtrade and why it is a good idea to support fairtrade by buying products with the fairtrade logo when we can.
Tilly paused her painting to have a hunt around the house to see if she could find any products with the fairtrade logo on, she found bananas, Tony’s chocolate and Cafedirect Coffee.
Step 3: Add more water and turn it into Messy Play
Once she had finished painting the logo we poured water onto it and got messy – the Green Rubber Toys Unicorns even got involved in the fun!
If you haven’t played with oobleck before, do make sure you dispose of it correctly in the food waste bin as it may block the drain if you pour it down the sink.
