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Kids love gak, as it is a squishy and slimy way to practice those fine motor skills and let their imagination run wild. If you love making homemade gak but wish there were more educational themes you could tie into it, you have come to the right place.
Look below at how we are exploring shapes with gak and cookie cutters! It is an easy way to use gak to teach children the properties of various shapes and allows them to create fun shapes on their own. Here is how to get started!
Make Homemade Gak with the Kids
First, you will need to make your own gak. Don’t worry, as this is an easy process! You can find the directions for our gak recipe here. Once you have made a batch, you can start having some fun with gak and shapes!
Here are some of the supplies you will need:
homemade gak
cookie cutters in assorted shapes
butter knife
You can find cookie cutters at most retail stores as well as your local Dollar Store. Look for basic shapes such as circles, squares, triangles, and stars. If you can’t find cutters in all of these shapes, don’t worry. We will show you how you can use your butter knife to help.
Directions for learning with homemade gak:
Lay your gak out on a flat surface. You can protect the surface if you wish using something like wax paper. Or, do this activity on a cutting board or cookie sheet.
Flatten the gak out with your hands. You want it to be about ½ an inch thick but it doesn’t have to be exact.
Talk about the different cookie cutter shapes you are working with. Take the time to talk about these shapes, how many sides they have, the different properties, and where you might see these shapes in everyday life.
Press the cookie cutters to the homemade gak to create the various shapes. This is also the perfect time to talk more about these shapes and what makes them unique.
Let children try making their own shapes using the butter knife as well. They can try recreating the shapes they already know by drawing them into the gak with the knife. Children can also get extra creative and make up their own shape using the knife to carve out the design. When done, have children tell you about the shapes they made.
You can do this activity over and over, just ball up the gak and smooth it out again to start over.
When not in use, your gak can be returned to an air tight container where it will wait for you to use it again. Once kids get comfortable with the shapes, they can try making their own patterns if they wish. This is another fun way to extend the lesson!
Try making your own homemade gak then give this activity a try. It is the perfect way to have some slimy, hands on fun while learning about shapes and what makes each one special.
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