Monday, August 03, 2015

Humpty Dumpty Light Table Play

This website uses affiliate links. As an affiliate and Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, which means I make a small commission when you use these links, at no additional cost to you.

Do I have hyperlexia? Is my child hyperlexic? Take the free online hyperlexia quiz today!


This month's theme for the Light & Reflections Series is nursery rhymes and I have to admit that, at first, I was stumped on what to do. I ended up settling on Humpty Dumpty as the inspiration for this light table activity for kids. It ended up being much more amazing than what I had originally planned in my mind, but it encouraged lots of storytelling and color mixing exploration. And, more importantly, my kids loved it!

Humpty Dumpty light table play for kids from And Next Comes L

This post contains affiliate links.

Light Table Activity for Kids Inspired by Humpty Dumpty

For this light table activity, I used:

Cut oval shaped eggs out of various colored transparencies. Then draw little Humpty Dumpty faces on them. They don't have to be perfect, just egg-like.

I originally intended to make egg puzzles for the kids to assemble on the light table. You know, so the kids could put Humpty Dumpty back together. So after I cut and drew the colorful eggs pictured above, I quickly took some photographs of them before I cut them into puzzles. Well, suddenly the kids swiped the eggs from underneath me and started playing. So I left the eggs as is and just watched them play with them however they wanted.

First, they layered the eggs and made different colored Humpty Dumptys.

Color mixing activity for kids on the light table inspired by Humpty Dumpy from And Next Comes L

Color mixing activity for kids on the light table inspired by Humpty Dumpy from And Next Comes L

The two boys even worked together while color mixing (notice the three hands below).

Color mixing activity for kids on the light table inspired by Humpty Dumpy from And Next Comes L

Five year old J even arranged them into a traffic light.

Nursery rhyme inspired light table activity for kids from And Next Comes L

But then the really fun part started. J started making up his own version of Humpty Dumpty shortly after I stopped photographing. I had even put away my DSLR.  

Nursery rhyme inspired light table activity for kids from And Next Comes L

Now, J doesn't really do pretend play or storytelling (likely due to his hyperlexia and autism diagnoses), but he has been showing some growth in these areas. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to see him act out an entire story of his own creation. To my surprise, that did not happen. Luckily, I had my phone nearby so I was able to capture some of his storytelling, which you can see below.


Other Nursery Rhyme & Literacy Ideas You'll Love



Itsy Bitsy Spider Window Activity for Kids from Where Imagination Grows


Nursery rhymes on the light table: exploring color mixing and encouraging storytelling based on Humpty Dumpty from And Next Comes L