FM.E. 130 PASTES A SHAPE ON THE APPROPRIATE SIDE; PLACES ON PAPER

Pasting is another activity which is important at preschool and school, and it’s fun at home too. As well as manipulating the materials, the child is required to recognise the right and wrong sides of a picture and place his paste accordingly.

How to Assess

Materials: A simple shape, such as a cut-out face.

Method: Give the child the shape, paste and paper. Say ‘Paste the face on’. Do not demonstrate.

Score plus if your child turns the shape over and paints paste on the wrong side, then turns again and pastes the shape, right side up, on the paper.

How to Teach

Start by using scraps of coloured paper which have no right side. Use demonstration and verbal directions to teach your child the steps.

  1. Takes the brush.
  2. Dips the brush.
  3. Wipes off excess paste on the rim of the paste jar.
  4. Paints the paste on a shape.
  5. Turns the shape paste-side down.
  6. Position the shape on the paper.

When your child can do this without extra help, introduce pictures which do have a right side. Ask ‘Which is the right side?’ and give your child the opportunity to identify it by himself. Then ask ‘Where do we put the paste?’ Tell him, if necessary: ‘Paste goes on the wrong side’ or ‘on the back’.

Now direct your child to ‘Paste the shape on’. If necessary, give the reminder ‘right side up’.

Continue giving regular practice until your child can paste shapes correctly without verbal directions or demonstrations.

Playtime and Round-the-house Activities

Your child is sure to enjoy a sticker book as an occasional treat; these make identification of the right and wrong sides quite easy. Fridge magnets also have right and wrong sides.

Help your child to make cards, wrapping paper and Christmas decorations with paste and paper. Display his efforts prominently and let him be proud of them. Don’t forget to write his name on them as he watches!

Remembering and Extending

More advanced pasting activities include the following:

  • Pasting shapes inside predrawn shapes on paper. Start with circles, then circles of different sizes, then squares and so on.
  • Pasting 2 or more precut pieces together to make a shape or picture. Start with two halves of a square or circle and progress gradually to more complex pictures, such as a sailing boat, a house, a truck.
  • Pasting face parts on a cardboard circle or paper plate to make a face. Add some wool scraps or cottonwool hair and a bright bow tie, and hang the face up in your child’s bedroom.