I could not talk about messy play without mentioning mortars and pestles. This has to be one of my favorite messy tools for indoor play.
Children love pounding and mashing.
This harnesses the natural childhood schema of transforming – changing the state of a material. The repetitive actions of schematic play allow children to construct meaning in what they are doing.
In my own classroom, I have noticed a deep satisfaction when children pound and grind found items.
This gray mortar and pestle set is one of the most common that I find at garage sales and thrift shops.
I have found wooden ones for just $7 at the local Asian market. These are my favorite as they can withstand enthused smashing!
WARNING!
I will warn you – the children can break the marble, ceramic and Molcajete mortar & pestle sets. I buy these at thrift stores and garage sales because they do tend to break. Wood and metal are more resilient to the pounding.
DIY MORTAR AND PESTLE
I love this simple slab of rock with a round rock for a DIY mortar and pestle.
Check with your local landscaping business for donations. Every year the landscaping store near my school always supplied me with 5 rock slabs and 10 big Mexican pebble rocks for pounding.
CRUSHING FLOWERS (FREE)
One of my favorite loose parts are flowers and petals.
The children will crush the flowers to be used in the atelier (art studio) for art making.
My secret. Partner with a local florist. Ask to be given the flowers that are no longer sellable. You will have an endless supply.
IMPORTANT PRECAUTIONS:
- Do check with your florist to see if they purchase flowers grown with toxic pesticides. This is especially important for children who are likely to taste the flowers.
- Check for any children who may have allergies to flowers and herbs.
OTHER SOURCES:
- Some grocery stores carry edible flowers and I will ask for those to be donated.
- Ask your families and neighbors for cutting from their gardens. I have had many donations over the years.
We smash the flowers and herbs both fresh and dried.
SMASHING CHALK
Jenni, a colleague and member of the Fairy Dust team – purchased a large four-cup capacity Mortar and Pestle set for outdoor play.
Without prompting, one of her students started crushing sidewalk chalk into mud.
Do you provide children with crushing and smashing experiences? Have you used a mortar and pestle in your classroom or playground?
Click here for my favorite Messy Play in the first issue of Methods Magazine.
I am interested in the free ebook!!
all you need to do is download it
Hey this was something really interesting…I shall try is I’m my class..pls keep me updated about more activities
Yes! Be sure to get on the email list. I have two more blog posts around the mortar and pestle coming out soon!
Big smiles,it really sparks my ideas!
I am interested to read this free book, and I am unable to download the book. When I click the download option after typing the email id, nothing happens. I am unable to see any download book in my laptop or email id srividyashivdas@gmail.com
Email asksally@fairydustteaching.com and we can help you figure out how to download it!
Hello Srividya, sorry to hear about your issue. Can you please send an email to asksally@fairydustteaching.com and we will take care of you.
Have a beautiful day!
Hello Srividya, sorry to hear about your issue. Can you please send an email to asksally@fairydustteaching.com and we will take care of you.
Have a beautiful day!
The same thing is happening to me. The link doesn’t work.
Julie
Hello Julie,
Please email asksally@fairydustteaching.com and we can help you figure out how to download it.
Have a wonderful day!
I ordered 2 wooden sets from Amazon at 6 something a piece, I think. We have used flower petals, leaves and bits of chalk (add several colors and some water and you can make “frog soup”. A few of our more tactile, mess-loving children have been thrilled with this new addition to our classroom. Now they collect things when we are outside so they can “crush” them. Thanks for the great tip!
Love this! I have found it to be therapeutic for some children. They actually need this! I love that the children are gathering things to crush! There is so much natural science and curiosity in this!
Cool idea never used mortal and postal in my room . I will definitely introduce this great tool for our children to explore. Thank you.
I recently found a wooden set at the thrift store for $3.
I am hoping to purchase a couple more either at the thrift store or online for my group of 30 preschoolers to use, especially outside this summer. Thank you for the post. I am excited to hear you will be doing more blog posts about this. In my over 20 years of teaching preschooler this is one thing we haven’t done.
So excited to try it!
I had two sets from my wedding back in the 80’s and never used them. I took them to school one day and was amazed at the engagement! I am excited to share some of my favorite invitations with a mortar and pestle. Most the best ideas were generated by the children!
Also having no luck with the download.
I also love to add graters, garlic presses, tea strainers etc. Cardamom pods etc and herbs smell great when crushed. Sturdy butter knives or metal rulers for sawing up stones. Even hammers and chisels (goggles needed). You can find gold!
Such goodness you are suggesting! Great ideas! I love garlic presses and strainers as well.
multiple garlic presses are a must have when we put play do out.
Other great tools along a similar vein- old fashioned orange juice squeezers- taste real juice at snace!
and old fashioned meat grinder- the kind that you clamp on to a table.
A crank operated apple peeler (teachers need to put the apples on). Then have apple slices for snack; saute them with a bit of cinnamon, if you like. Measure the apple skins to find the longest!
Use old fashioned hand egg beaters to whip up a bowl of bubbles in the water table or outside.
I’ve had kids use mortars to grind corn and compare to cornmeal, to make mashed potatoes for snack ( or mashed butternut squash or apple sauce,etc)
Pediatric OTs say these kinds of tools are pure gold for helping children develop hand strength and coordination- particularly bi manual coordination. In the age of electronic devices, these hand skills are going by the wayside.
This is true gold! I absolutely love when children are included in the process of creating food with these simple tools. I never thought to use the mortar and pestle to make apple sauce or mashed potatoes. I used an applesauce sieve colander strainer stand and pestle masher. But how brilliant – the simple mortar and pestle is perfect! Thank you for sharing this goodness!
We tried grinding our own wheat into flour when reading the little red hen. The kids had a great time but we really didn’t end up with any flour! It is hard work to grind it up!
So true! I bet they had compassion for the poor little red hen!
YES! YES! YES! I’m doing a messy play experience with parents, and I intro the elements fortnightly with students before the culminating parent session. I had already thought of flowers to mix with water, dirt, clay, but had not considered the idea of mortar and pestals!! Thank you!
What a great idea to provide an experience for the parents! It makes so much sense to demonstrate the power of messy play!
I would like the e-book please
Hello Tracey!
Please scroll down to the end of this blog post and enter your email address to download the free e-book.
Have a wonderful day!
I would love the ebook
Free ebook please. I very much enjoyed reading this article thanks.
Hi Julie! Thanks for reading the blog. There should be an ebook form if you scroll up. It’s at the end of the blog post. You can enter in your email address to receive a free copy of the Loose Parts ebook! Let me know if that doesn’t work.
Thank you,
Sally
Could I get the free book?
Hi Ellen! Here’s a link for the free Loose Parts Start Up Guide: https://fairydustteaching.com/looseparts-startupguide. Thank you!
love it, love it ,love it I have bought my fist mortar and pestle I’m excited now!
Hi
I won’t be able to download the book.when I submit my email address there is nothing happened.
Hi Akhtar! I’m so sorry the download isn’t working. Can you please email asksally@fairydustteaching.com so we can get this resolved for you? Thank you so much 🙂