A Final Art Experience with the Children

Date: 10/11/11

On my second last day of prac I had planned a large art experience for the children, this time with eight children at a time. This experience was inspired by a book I read to them called 'Call Me Gorgeous', this book had very detailed illustrations of different animal parts that made up a funny looking creature at the end. Inspired by this I brought in a number of materials that the children could use to make a collage made up of many different elements. I brought in feathers, bubble wrap, foam, cardboard, match sticks and different kinds of cut up paper. I used lots of different coloured paint some in cups and some in trays, I provided sponges and rollers aswell for the paint.

Majority of the children in the class had a turn at this experience and were all very eager to while waiting their turn. The children didnt exactly make creatures like the ones seen within the book but they all used the many different materials provided and experimented with a number of different techniques. Beau really enjoyed using the sponges and rollers on his page he spent a long time at the art table. Archie also really enjoyed this experience like he does with all creative arts experiences! When I asked Archie what his artwork was of he responded by saying; "Well... It's a forest with lots of animals and things in it". Archie loves animals and magical things, he always uses his imagination when engaging in art as I have observed over the time I have spent with him. Archie's artworks are always very abstract and you wouldnt always be able to tell what it is of when you look at it, however what's important is that Archie knows what is artwork is off and thats all that matters to him.

Alessandro and Caileb spent the most time at the art table and even created another artwork when they had finished. Alessandro's artwork was very interesting and transformative, his work is very layered which shows he really took onboard the idea of collage. Alessandro kept adding materials to his artwork then painting over them. This made a very interested affect and he was very proud of this as he kept showing Monique (teacher) what he had done. The bubble wrap was a very effective material, some of the children used it as a print while others stuck in on their page and painted over it, both looked very good.

Overall I can say that this art experience engaged the most children. My supervisor Monique was very happy with the children's works and let me stick them up on the wall.

Reggio Emilia
Taking on a Reggio Emilia approach I decided to stick the artworks up on a white wall as I beleive colour takes the viewers eye away from the colours and detail in the art. I made sure the children's names were written at the top corner of the page so the audience can see clearly which child made each artwork. I also attempted to take on the Reggio Emilia approach when teaching the children by asking them open ended questions while doing their artworks and encouraging them to investigate their ideas and express themselves through their artworks. This experience also encouraged the children's hundred languages through painting and collage, as they were given an opportunity to express themselves and make meaning through the language of the arts.

Sand Paintings of the Beach

Date: 8/11/11 (Tuesday)

As a follow up to the children's interest in the beach that week, I decided to set up an art experience with paint and collage. I mixed sand in four paint colours on separate trays (blue, green, yellow and red). I also provided some pieces of woven material that reminded me of the beach and the ocean. I set up an art table in the morning with shells and images of the beach and ocean to give the children some inspiration.

Chelsea, Archie, Charli and Chloe were first to sit at the art table. Having observed Archie for few weeks I had been noticing that he is very creative and has such a strong imagination. Archie will usually be found doing an art experience throughout the day whether it be drawing, sculpting or painting at the easel. Archie expresses himself through the arts and this shows by the amount of time he spends at one artwork and also when he explains what he has created at the end. During this experience Archie used his imagination and ideas about the beach and sea to express himself through his work.

The children all really enjoyed this experience and spent a great amount of time on their artworks. I loved how each child's artwork was different in its own unique way. Some children did spots, while others spread the sandy paint across their paper. The children also added the weave material to their painting and some of them decided to stick on the images of the beach too which wasn't originally what the images are for but art is about transformation and from a Reggio Emilia approach the child is encouraged to faciliate their own learning, so instead of telling the children they can't use the images I let them stick them on.

Another technique I noticed the children doing which I loved, was they were using the shells to paint with. This made a very unique effect on the paper, the children dipped the shells in the paint and then scratched them across the page leaving different kinds of markings on the page.

Overall I was very pleased with the children's artworks and im sure they were too. I asked the children if they wanted me to write their names on their artworks and if they could think of a title. Archie responded by calling his artwork; "I want to see beautiful animals", so I wrote this on the top of his artwork. This title that Archie gave his artwork shows his strong imagination and interest in animals especially sea creatures.

Here is Archie's artwork as well as Chloes....

Underwater Photography

Date: 3/11/11 (Thursday)

Nearing the end of this week the children have moved on from the castle interest which lasted a good two weeks of ongoing discussion, art and music about castles. This week the weather has been really hot and many of the children have been discussing the beach, their pools and some of them have been doing nippers on a Sunday. Due to this hot weather I decided to bring in my underwater camera for the children to explore photography under water.

In the shed I found a clear plastic tub that I filled up with water and placed on the grass outside.

The children started to come over and see what was happening, Beau came over and I told Beau to put the camera in the water. The children were all amazed when they saw the camera in the water. They had never had an experience like this before.

It wasnt long before the children were all gathered around the water table watching their friends take pictures. I suggested to the children that maybe they could take pictures of eachother through the plastic. Charli had an idea to lay underneath the table, the children thought this experience was really funny, they loved seeing the photos they took after and then taking more.

All the children had a turn at the camera and laying underneath the table. Some children knew how to work the camera straight away while others learnt for the first time. The children taught eachother how to press the button and take a photo, they were all working very collaboratively and were sharing very well. Beau particularly loved this experience and learnt how to work the camera until he could do it by himself. Beau also loved getting his picture taken and then looking at it afterwards.

A great experience that both children and staff enjoyed!

Here are some of the photos the children took....

Reggio Emilia:
For this experience I gave the children an opportunity to explore their environment using technology. The children were able to express themselves through their photos and were able to revisit them later. Revisting children's work is an important process of documentation which is crucial in a Reggio Emilia environment. During this experience the children were able to document their own learning and at the same time have fun with the underwater camera.

More Castles using Clay!

Date: 1/11/11 (Tuesday)

On Monday the 31st, I observed Ethan, James, Harrison, Chelsea and Caprice making something very big out of the playdoh. I went over and asked them what they were making, Ethan replied; "Making a castle, see". I was very amazed by the castle they had made and their close attention to detail. I just love how they used the rolling pins as walls and even included all four of the castle towers!

So as a follow up to this observation, on Tuesday the 1st I decided to set up a clay experience for the children using the same castle images I used for the collage activity last week to guide them to make some castles out of clay. Clay is a natural material and is much harder to manipulate unlike playdoh which is great for the children's fine motor skills. Clay also provides children with a great sensory experience as it feels alot different than playdoh.

I set up the experience in the morning at 10.25 am, I set up five placemats and five bits of clat on each mat. I placed the images of castles around the table as well as some clay tools including; rolling pins, scalples and other tools that make patterns in the clay.

Alannah, Beau, James, Ashton and Skye join the clay table and begin discussing with eachother about the clay and the images.
Beau: Lets hit it
Tali: Thats Rapunzels castle
Alannah: Yeah but that caslte has a door, Rapunzel's cant have a door she lets down her hair.


Some of the children are making casltes with their clay while others are just feeling the clay and playing with it. I sit down at the table with the children and start making a castle of my own.
Ben and Caileb join the table.

Ben and Caileb pick up straight away on what I am making and then start molding their clay.
Ben: I'm drilling a hole
Caileb: I'm going to do this castle (pointing to an image)
Caileb: It's going to be hard!

The two boys end up being the only ones left at the table but they are happy at work with their clay. I am quite amazed at the boys sculptures, they have really captured the detail of the castle. Ben even used a scalple tool to make a brick detail on the side of his tower. Caileb's castle is also very good, much different to Bens. Caileb has attempted to copy one of the castles in the images and I am very suprised at his great work, in fact both boys really took the time to build their castles. Heres what they did....

Reggio Emilia:

This experience uses the environment as a third teacher, I set up the physical environment for the children and they responded to it through their on dispositions and curiosity to explore and learn. Another Reggio Emilia concept being the 'hundred languages' of children can be seen here within this experience. Children are encouraged to express their understanding and ideas through many different symbolic languages which includes sculpture.

Mixing colours with Shaving Cream!

Date: 28/10/11 (Friday)

After observing my focus child Archie during the first week of prac I noticed that he is really intrested in mixing colours. Margi one of the teachers in the Sapphire room did an experience with the children mixing blue and yellow watered down dye in sand outside. Margi told me that she did this experience for Archie as he really loved to mix colours.

So on Friday I decided to set up a sensory experience of mixing coloured tempura paint into shaving cream. I set up the experience at 10.15 am at a large table of six. I decided that I would do the experience with the children rather than simply watch as the children love it when adults get involved and it allows them to learn through modelling. I set up five trays one for me aswell, I then put the powdered tempura paint in cups with spoons and placed it in the middle of the table along with the shaving cream.

The first group of children that engaged in the experience included all three of my focus children; Archie, Beau and Alannah. Skye and Benjamin also joined the experience. At first the children and I discussed the different colours on the table that including all three primary colours; red, blue and yellow. I passed the shaving cream around and the children sprayed two separate piles on their trays. We then added two different colours off paint to each pile. We discussed what colours the children chose and what they would make. Then we started to mix...

The children mixed in their colours and were very excited to see what happened, there was lots of discussion going on. The children had lots of fun with this experience and wanted to add more and more paint onto their trays (too much paint!). We all had very very messy hands and made lots of mess on the trays. Archie really enjoyed this experience he discussed the colours being mixed and was keen to add more colour to see the results. Beau also really enjoyed this experience, he loved mixing his hands in the cream and kept lifting them up to show me how messy they were. Alannah was hesitant to touch the shaving cream at first and observed the other children before she decided to get her hands all messy. However once Alannah did feel the cream she loved it alot and couldnt wait to add more shaving cream.

Overall the experience was alot of fun and the children learnt about colour mixing!

Reggio Emilia:
During this experience I tried to take on the approaches of a Reggio Emilia teacher by allowing the children to generate their own hypothesis and use experimentation and investigation in order to find out the outcome. I did this by not telling the children what their two chosen colours would make, instead I asked each child what colours they had and then asked them what they think it will make. I then told the children to start mixing to find out for themselves rather than tell them.

Castle Collages

Date: 26/10/11

On my fourth day of prac I turned up to the centre armed with art materials for a planned collage experience that would also continue to buid upon the children's castle interest. On this day I also met my third focus child Alannah who is four years and 9 months.

I set up the experience in the art/craft area at one of the tables at around 10.35 am. I used different kinds of paper including: cellophane, foam, coloured paper and shiny silver paper. The paper was cut up in all different shapes and sizes, I also provided children with scissors and uncut paper in case they wanted to cut up their own. I set up the table with four sheets of paper, glue, scissors, the collage peices and I also placed a number of laminated images of castles around the table as a prompt to guide the children's artistic ideas.

Will and Kurtis were the first to sit down at the collage table and started to create artworks using the collage pieces. James and Alannah joined the table too.
Alannah suprised me with how well she took on the experience. Alannah wanted to make a castle just like the one in the picture next to her. I was very intrigued at her patience and precision with putting the glue on each piece and sticking it down exactly where she wanted.

Alannah: "This is a roof"
Alannah: "Bit tricky sometimes"
(Alannah starts putting green at the bottom of her page)
Me: "What are you doing now Alannah?"
Alannah: "It's the grass"

Chelsea, Charlie and Taj joined the table and started discussing the castles on the table.

Chelsea: "Look! Spooky castle"
Taj: "ooo spooky"
Charlie: "What do we do?"
Chelsea: "I'm going to copy the pictures"
Chelsea: "Mines a hard one"
Charlie: "Mines really hard"

The four children including Alannah are working away at their artworks. I found it very interesting to see the different ways the children approached the experience. Charlie was drawing her castle first and then stuck the collage peices in the shapes she had drawn.

Overall I was very pleased with the children's response to this experience. The images I provided worked well in that they facilitated the children without directly telling the children they have to make a certain thing. The children all made a choice of their own and therefore guided their own learning.

Reggio Emilia:
Once again this experience makes up a part of a larger project based on castles, this allows children's interests to be followed up on and it also gives them new ways and ideas to build upon an original interest. The Reggio Emilia approach also beleives in the environment as the third teacher. In this experience the physical environment was set up to facilitate the children's learning using the castle images as prompts or guides to children's creativity, it therefore acted as a third teacher.

Everything Castles!

Date: 24/10/11

On my second day of prac I was informed that the children were really interested in castles. The teachers were making a large castle using the plastic play equipment and the children helped stick cardboard walls to the equipment.

At around 10am three boys Taj, Kai and Kobe came up to me and asked if they could make a sheild. I asked the boys what a shield looks like?
Taj: "A sheild looks like a circle shape"
Me: "Ok! Well lets try and find something to use so we can cut one out"

I found some cardboard in the store room and a bucket lid I thought they could use for the shape. I helped the boys trace around the bucket lid to make a circle shape, they did this all by themselves and then cut the circles out by themselves too. I then helped them make a handle for the back using the stapler to staple another bit of cardboard on. Monique (teacher) got the boys some decorating materials including paint, glitter and sequins.

Not long after the boys sheilds started coming together, more children came along and wanted to make one too. Soon most of the class were making sheilds for their castle.

Reggio Emilia:
This was a great experience and shows the beginning of a long term project. The Reggio Emilia approach sees long term projects as important vehicles for learning. Projects also allow children to engage in a transformative process building upon exsisting ideas and cognitive schemas.

Getting to know the centre and children

Date: 21/10/11

On my first official day of prac , I took the time to get to know the centre and the children. The centre is a privately owned long day care centre by Katrina Fisher who opened the centre in May 2006. The centre caters for sixteen children in the Ruby room aged two and three years and twenty children in the Sapphire room aged four and five years. The centre is a small home like environment that has two large rooms for both age groups and a large outdoor area and inground sandpit for the children. The centre has great resources and equipment for the children.

On this first day I got to meet my two focus children Archie four years and nine months and Beau four years and two months. Archie approached me outside in the morning and very kindly introduced himself to me, Archie immediately got on to telling me about his strong interest in Sharks and other marine life. He also told me that he loves 'pretty things' like sparkles, butterflies and flowers, and his favourite colour is pink.

Beau is one of the youngest in his room (Sapphire room) and is a little shy at first but after my attempts to start a conversation with him, he began to tell me about how he went with his dad to the golf course on the weekend. It was from this point that I knew Beau really loved golf, just by the way his face lit up when he spoke about it. I was certainly right, Beau is really interested in golf which came from his dad who plays golf frequently.