The weather is warm and we are playing outside every day!  So how perfect that Early Years Resources have just sent us this Outdoor Mark Making Kit to bring our creativity out into the garden.

The kit includes paint brushes, spray bottles, pattern rollers, squirt bottles, droppers, texture printers and more.  It also all comes in a great big storage box, so it's easy to tidy it all up when we're finished.

I tried to get a few things set up before picking up Ethan from school one day, to then bring the kids home to a fun water play surprise outside.  For our first go with the kit I only used materials that would wash away (like chalk) but we will definitely try bringing out some big pieces of paper and using paint another day.


I filled a few big buckets with water and filled up the spray bottles as well.  Then Ivy helped me by crushing up some pieces of chalk (we put them in a plastic bag and smashed them with a toy hammer, she really enjoyed that!) and then putting the chalk dust into the squirt bottles and adding water.  This worked really well to make different coloured waters that I wasn't worried about staining the patio.


Then after school it was time to play!  The kids got right in there and started by using the big paintbrushes to paint the fence.  This is a great activity as their doing everything on a large scale and really building up those arm muscles, without having to worry about getting it right (especially as it was a hot day and any water paintings disappeared quite quickly!)


Then they started using the spray bottles and squirt bottles, those were a big hit!  And trying out the different colours on the patio.  As this was their first time exploring the new materials I didn't give them any specific mark making tasks and just let them discover for themselves. Ivy is getting close to learning to write her name, so she did have a go at doing that a few times with the water.  We also wrote on the patio in chalk, and then used our water to spray or brush over it.


We are having so much fun with this outdoor mark making kit, I can definitely see it being a big part of our summer outdoor play, and a great way to keep the little ones writing, in a fun no pressure way, over the summer when they're off school.



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* This is a review post, we were sent the mark making set from Early Years Resources in order to try it out and write our honest opinions.*