Recipes for Play: Fun Activities for Small Hands and Big Imaginations

An important part of childhood is exploring the world. What do things taste, feel, smell, sound like? What happens when you add red to blue, mix soil with water or drop a blob of paint from a great height? These childhood experiments are vital for development and provide hours of entertainment.

Sisters Rachel Sumner and Ruth Mitchener have created Recipes for Play for parents who want to encourage tactile learning but don’t want their lives ruled by chaos. Each recipe has easy-to-follow instructions for setting activities up and simple steps to clean up once the fun is finished. Make your own facepaint in minutes, whip up a batch of oozy slime, create clouds of colour with rainbow rice and so much more. Welcome your child to a wonderful world of colour, texture, creativity and imagination.

Rachel Sumner (Author) Writer Rachel Sumner describes herself as a play-at-home mum of Margaux (four) and Frankie (two and a half ). Rachel was the children's book rep for retailer Beattie Forbes working with school libraries across Hawkes Bay. While living in Blenheim she spent 12 months as the children's book reviewer for the Marlborough Express. She is currently a book reviewer for Australian Women's Weekly.Ruth Mitchener (Author) Ruth Mitchener (nee. Sumner) is a multi-award winning designer, who lives in Auckland, New Zealand. After studying Fine Arts in a decommissioned monastery, filling countless sketchbooks on a 9-month sabbatical in Europe, manufacturing medicines at Weleda, and starting her own designer cushion business, Ruth went on to complete a degree in Industrial Design at Victoria University of Wellington with first class honours. She is passionate about creating clean, beautiful and intriguing imagery that not only accurately reflects the written word but translates those words into memorable and intriguing images.