Process Art

Often as adults we are so obsessed by goals that the process of doing things becomes unimportant.  This can especially be the case in early years settings in the UK where the government continues to make box ticking and goal setting a statutory requirement.  Children are much less concerned with where they end up and able to live completely in the moment much more easily.  It can be especially tempting in art and craft projects to take over and start directing children in order to get a more aesthetically pleasing end result but this stifles creativity and inhibits growth whilst not building confidence.  So today I attempted to create an environment for Ethan where he could enjoy the process of the art  (for more about process art read here ) he made as much as possible and with as little interference from myself as possible.  The fact we live in a rented house with beige carpets added extra challenges to this! First I covered the living carpet with a big dust sheet.  Then I brought in the tuff spot.  I had some wallpaper samples I covered the tuff spot with before taping them in place with gaffer tape.  Then I poured paints in the inside packaging of a biscuit tin (chocolate packaging, cardboard or paper plates etc would work just as well or if you have an artists pallete use that!).  I put some other items of interest out too - old megablocks, lids from jars and milk bottles, a dragon stamp and a toilet roll tube plus some paint brushes.   Ethan was excited to see the blank canvas before him and soon got stuck in using the megablocks to print squares and then the lids to print circles on the wallpaper. 

He also used the brushes and then started painting the megablocks and lids with the brushes and then his hands and arms.  Soon he asked to add water to the mix.  He also wanted to add more paint so I helped him do this when he got stuck.  The end result was not as conventionally pretty as if I'd sat down and given him rules and directed him but he seemed to thrive in the freedom he was given.  He was fascinated that by mixing red and blue on his hands that he could make purple or blue and white made light blue.  It can be hard when we get resources out for children and hope they will use them in a certain way to sit back and observe (only helping when asked) but the benefits of this are so much more enriching for children than trying to force our agenda on them.    

The Power of Play Dough

Play dough is one of Ethan's favourite things and I can see why.  There are endless possibilities to what it can be made into and how it can be manipulated.  There are also so many different recipes for home-made play dough available on the internet that Ethan has only used the bought stuff at playgroups we have visited.  I much prefer the home-made stuff, it keeps better, feels better to handle and doesn't combine together to make the murky grey colour that the commercial stuff does.  Below is our favourite play dough recipe.

Kool-Aid Play Dough  

2 Cups of Plain Flour
1/2 Cup of Salt
3 teaspoons of Cream of Tartar (available in the baking section of supermarket, next to baking soda)
2 tablespoons of Oil
1 Sachet of Kool-Aid
1.5 Cups of Boiling Water

Pour into the bowl in the order given.  Mix until combined with a spoon.  Leave to cool a bit and then knead.  If it is a bit sticky add a bit more flour.  Store in an airtight container.  This play dough smells really nice and keeps for ages.  I use some coloured kool-aid and some clear which I put liquid food colouring into until it took on the colour I wanted.  I ordered my Kool-aid off amazon but apparently you can get it from market stalls or some supermarkets in the UK now.   

Play dough is a great tool for imaginative play as it can become whatever we want it too.  It's also good for making into letters and numbers for introductions to literacy and maths.  Ethan likes adding his vehicles to it for small world play.  Adding different things gives a fresh element to the play too.  As well as specific play dough tools that shops sell, why not add sticks, pine cones, pebbles, shells and leaves?  As grown ups we all still like to have a go if play dough is in front of us.  There is something very satisfying about rolling up a piece into a ball, a sausage or a snail!  When I play with Ethan with the play dough we both relate to each other in a new way.  I become his play mate and I feel like a child again.  Ethan loves this and directs me and we think of ideas together.  Play dough is a good reminder in the importance of play which is child-led and spontaneous.  

 

Treasure Hunting

I am always on the look out for interesting objects to give to the children for them to play with.  I was buying some hay for my guinea pigs Gizmo and Kit today when I saw these fabulous balls.  They are made of rattan, seagrass and water hyacinth and intended for guinea pigs and rabbits to play with.  They are very tactile objects and I will be letting the children play with them (under my supervision) tomorrow.   I think these balls will be more suitable for my nearly three year olds to play with as the under one I look after is teething so I would rather he play with the wooden utensils and metal objects that have less chance of breaking apart in his mouth.

Elinor Goldschmied and Sonia Jackson coined the term heuristic play to describe providing children with the opportunity to find out about objects and what can be done with them. The term heuristic is derived from the Greek word ‘eurisko’ which means ‘serves to discover or gain an understanding of.’  Objects made from natural products have varied and interesting textures & aromas which encourage children to explore with all their senses.  Heuristic play is completely child led and open ended - there is no conclusion or finished product that is expected and children are free to explore and play in whatever way their imagination leads them.

Since introducing the balls they have been a big hit.  The two year old I look after can flit from toy to toy like a butterfly when we go to groups with a wealth of plastic fantastic but the water hyacinth ball held her attention for two hours.  She held it for a while and then examined it closer seeing if she could unpick it (she couldn't).  Then she engaged me in a game of catch with it and enjoyed running to get it and throwing it back to me.  Interestingly she put the rough seagrass ball down straight away but the smooth water hyacinth must have felt more pleasant to hold for her.  Ethan Bear loved playing with them all.  He started a big game of catch and really upped the energy of the play.  When my tired pregnant body was ready to sit down Ethan was happy to throw the seagrass ball against the ball and watch it roll back.  So some really interesting reactions to very simple objects appearing in the room this week.

Ethan Bear throwing the rough seagrass ball.