I had the experience of listening to an Educational Consultant from Natural learning this week,
Niki Buchan hosted by ako, presented a workshop about being a STEM Detective to a group of teachers in Takapuna on Tuesday.
I just wanted to share some of the concept that either stuck in my head or they reminded me of why my teaching practise is the way it is.
A lot of what Niki shared struck a chord because I"m usually there for the under dog, the misfit, the ones that think differently.
I didn't achieve well in my school education, not at primary, Secondary or High school, I left school after failing a majority of 5th form for the second year in a row and only walked away with 5th English and 5th form Art.
I was that child that took a longer period of time to understand the subject matter and just as I adjusted and felt confident then it would be time to change.
Even now I think of questions after the workshops are finished, or I think of a response to say to someone after they have walked away.
I have so many memories of my learning environments but very few memories of subject matter, its not surprising i've ended up being an outdoor educator.
The biggest factor that started my career as an Early Childhood Educator is that from my own lack of concentration I can recognise the pattern of children that can't concentrate and that motivates me to get to know them and show them I am the learner and I am interested in learning about them.
Once a relationship has grown then there whole holistic learning takes over.
Lilian Katz once spoke in Auckland for a workshop and she said if you have a group of children playing together and someone is really disrupting them don't help them to get rid of the disruption, work with the child causing the disruption so they can join in with the playing.
We don't need to teach children that misfits don't belong, we need to teach children that misfits think differently from us and if we get to know them we might learn a new way of thinking.
Its makes me so very sad when adults classify a child due to there behaviour, behaviours are not a personality and anything that can be learnt can change, maybe they can't unlearn it because its there but there are so many other tools that children can learn to change behaviours.
So STEM =Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths
Niki got me thinking about the STEM of sticks!
Some educators look horrified when a child picks up a stick, naturally a stick needs a friend to stick around with.
Sticks are great to clash, sticks just embed contact don't they.
If you have a stick and someone else has a stick, well there is a game straight away.
Thats the beauty of sticks, just make some rules if you feel worried or you experience fear by watching stick contacts.
Its okay for sticks to contact other sticks, its not okay for sticks to contact the body.
How much space does your stick need?
How long are your arms?
Lets measure the distance from your shoulder to end of the stick, how long do you think that is?
How much space do you think that is?
Look in-between all the different trees and estimate which space in-between is the longest.
Want to be precise, get a rope and measure it out.
There is your STEM concepts.
I am actually exaggerating because most of the time you do not need to even suggest all this because children naturally experiment with there bodies.
Another great point was that our Children's Worlds are rapidly changing..........
So we want our children to think on their feet....
We need there minds open to change....
We need children to hypothesise.....
and so much more.
Please take a minute to listen to this radio interview, there are some really easy terms that link to STEM or project work.
Noted early childhood specialist Lilian Katz worries that when children spend too much time engaged in activities and exercises that they don’t really understand, their confidence in their intellect is undermined. As a result, many children come to think of school as irrelevant. Discover what Dr. Katz means when she says it’s not whether academics matter, but when.
https://shar.es/aabBgq
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Puddles of dye
Have you ever watched children working with dye, if you watch really young children around two or three you will see them layer the dye mainly in the same spot.
It is like puddles of dye, you see the dye getting denser and you see the children telling you to look, because they like it, that is the allurement factor, the desire in dye.
So why water down dye i often think, when i see other teachers offering children pots of watered down dye i personally feel ripped off for them, its like you have taken away the best bit, you have offered them second hand dye when you had the brand new bottle ready to go.
Children need the inspiration of colour, colours they see in the rainbows, in the flowers, you don't see spiderman in a watered down dull kind of red do you.
How can you make a true picture if you don't trust children to have enough dye.
Instead try offering smaller amounts of dye, and really think about the brushes you have on offer, it is OK to direct children to the right kind of brushes, thick handled brushes will make the jars fall down, dye does not have the weight that paint does to hold them down, so if you have not corrected that you really don't have any reason to get upset when the dye tips out.
And it will, but just have cloths ready, art cloths or paper towels that are always available and at reach for children because being creative means making mistakes,and being an artist means using your mistakes to learn from.
When you see children with there puddles of dye teach them about pushing the dye around the page, let them know that it is all dye that wants to soak into paper and it cant do that in a puddle, its like a rain puddle outside, you have a puddle like outside this morning when it rained, remember how someone swept the puddle out (after a few children jumped in it) you can do that with your brush, then it can go to other places on the paper.
I believe that is the trick to getting the most out of children and art, you have to relate it to what they know, what experience they have.
Another technique to think about it is where to dry the pictures and how to carry these puddles that have been spread out all over the page.
Many a time i have seen people hang them up to dry and walk away completely oblivious to the puddles that are now running down to the floor, so the puddles have now turned into a serious drainpipe leak.
If a child has gone to all that effort of making and spreading dye puddles then let them learn about balance and laying there pictures out flat.
If you think we need to do this for children sure ask, but there is some great ritual about putting your work down to rest in the drying process, maybe it is the last time they will see the colours shining wet, maybe it is the final goodbye of the process of the creative, but it seems to me that there is a lot of pride children get from hanging there pictures up.
Newspaper on the floor is sufficient for drying dye work with the balance and skill children learn from carrying there puddles over it actually makes the whole experience last longer.
Of course you wont always get puddles of dye, but if you expect them then the detailed pictures are the next step, but like anything in art i believe you cant get to flowers and rainbows with out puddles and splatters.
You really have to be prepared to put the time in with every medium you work with together with children, the Italian's say it is all about a dialogue with the materials, but i think in kiwi terms it is getting past the rushness.
By rushness i mean the excitement of colour, the crowd around the dye, and everyone wanting the same thing, its about experience and practise, we as teachers just need to over come our own feeling of being uncomfortable about the mess.
Have a look in any artists studio, you will see paint and creative residue that tells a story of work that has happened before.
I also think if you do not allow children the time to clean up there own work stations and take pride in there spaces of creativity, you are not following through with the true processes of becoming an artist.
So welcome spills and splats i say.
It is like puddles of dye, you see the dye getting denser and you see the children telling you to look, because they like it, that is the allurement factor, the desire in dye.
So why water down dye i often think, when i see other teachers offering children pots of watered down dye i personally feel ripped off for them, its like you have taken away the best bit, you have offered them second hand dye when you had the brand new bottle ready to go.
Children need the inspiration of colour, colours they see in the rainbows, in the flowers, you don't see spiderman in a watered down dull kind of red do you.
How can you make a true picture if you don't trust children to have enough dye.
Instead try offering smaller amounts of dye, and really think about the brushes you have on offer, it is OK to direct children to the right kind of brushes, thick handled brushes will make the jars fall down, dye does not have the weight that paint does to hold them down, so if you have not corrected that you really don't have any reason to get upset when the dye tips out.
And it will, but just have cloths ready, art cloths or paper towels that are always available and at reach for children because being creative means making mistakes,and being an artist means using your mistakes to learn from.
When you see children with there puddles of dye teach them about pushing the dye around the page, let them know that it is all dye that wants to soak into paper and it cant do that in a puddle, its like a rain puddle outside, you have a puddle like outside this morning when it rained, remember how someone swept the puddle out (after a few children jumped in it) you can do that with your brush, then it can go to other places on the paper.
I believe that is the trick to getting the most out of children and art, you have to relate it to what they know, what experience they have.
Another technique to think about it is where to dry the pictures and how to carry these puddles that have been spread out all over the page.
Many a time i have seen people hang them up to dry and walk away completely oblivious to the puddles that are now running down to the floor, so the puddles have now turned into a serious drainpipe leak.
If a child has gone to all that effort of making and spreading dye puddles then let them learn about balance and laying there pictures out flat.
If you think we need to do this for children sure ask, but there is some great ritual about putting your work down to rest in the drying process, maybe it is the last time they will see the colours shining wet, maybe it is the final goodbye of the process of the creative, but it seems to me that there is a lot of pride children get from hanging there pictures up.
Newspaper on the floor is sufficient for drying dye work with the balance and skill children learn from carrying there puddles over it actually makes the whole experience last longer.
Of course you wont always get puddles of dye, but if you expect them then the detailed pictures are the next step, but like anything in art i believe you cant get to flowers and rainbows with out puddles and splatters.
You really have to be prepared to put the time in with every medium you work with together with children, the Italian's say it is all about a dialogue with the materials, but i think in kiwi terms it is getting past the rushness.
By rushness i mean the excitement of colour, the crowd around the dye, and everyone wanting the same thing, its about experience and practise, we as teachers just need to over come our own feeling of being uncomfortable about the mess.
Have a look in any artists studio, you will see paint and creative residue that tells a story of work that has happened before.
I also think if you do not allow children the time to clean up there own work stations and take pride in there spaces of creativity, you are not following through with the true processes of becoming an artist.
So welcome spills and splats i say.
In case you forgot it's all physical.
Achievement and personal satisfaction is a common goal for teachers of young children and we see the determination of children's will power push this through.
But there is the flip side to that, the reluctance and the insecurities that become barriers for children, and try as we might, theorise as we do, reluctance can sometimes disable children like a virus.
This story is very dear to me, because i have been working with a child whom i have seen experience a world of different emotions about his own drawing practises.
I fully believe that you must never draw for children and part of the long fustration this boy has experienced is because he is in love with popular cartoon culture and he wants someone to make representations true to the graphic images he is in love with.
I have observed this boys journey and it has been slow and gradual, but it has taught me a leason in patience and authenticity, because we are always telling ourselves that to teach well you must know the subject matter, and for me to teach well is to know the children i teach well.
If i had been true to this i would not have worried about the fact that this boy could not, would not try to draw or express himself visually, because he has always been in charge of his choices and has always been able to catch up when he was mentally and physically ready.
Being mentally ready and physically ready to draw is the key to success i believe, no amount of inspiration is going to be able to help you if your body has not been prepared for the journey ahead.
So for the Early Childhood places of play that have little value for being outside and emersing yourself in nature and the value of open space and risk, i believe the journey will be so much slower.
So the inspiration in this case was Hatupatu and the Bird Woman, and the physical preparation came in the way of a wheelchair. Puzzled? yes i was too actually, but you see this child had a full cast on his leg for six weeks so he was in a wheel chair on and off for that period, and what happend was very natural, as he gained very strong hands from learning to move his wheelchair.
So when he sat down with a piece of chalk and expressed his interest in Hatupatu, what happened astounded him and the control and movement had all clicked into place and he was able to draw images he was happy with.
Space and natural settings have to be the biggest priority for Nga Tamariki of the 21 century, it seems to me that everyone you talk to valued there freedom, independance and physical activity growing up, so why is it that as a Universe we are not fighting for the same priorities for Nga Tamariki 100% of the time, why is space being taken from our children for the sake of a crazy notion that learning only happens inside the wall of an institution.
Learning Institution's for our children are becoming more compact, the space inside the class is given the space and the numbers of children inside this space are growing, but what really matters should be the space and state of the environment outside the classroom.
The natural world around us is being classed as out of bounds and too risky and needing too much supervision.
We are restrciting Nga Tamariki from the natural desire to learn as we experience the world evolving around us, and many of us are turned off like a switch when we are put into classes.
There is not a single thing we can not learn watching nature unfold.
My friend learnt that his fingers were strong and that he could draw only because his will power kicked in and being in a wheelchair did not stop him from being outside and joining in with others, his body just adapted, his muscles grew stronger and as a spin off his brain opened new pathways and he linked it to being able to draw now.
The body and mind are our most powerful tools, if you have them both on your side really the world is your oyster. So get outside everyone.
But there is the flip side to that, the reluctance and the insecurities that become barriers for children, and try as we might, theorise as we do, reluctance can sometimes disable children like a virus.
This story is very dear to me, because i have been working with a child whom i have seen experience a world of different emotions about his own drawing practises.
I fully believe that you must never draw for children and part of the long fustration this boy has experienced is because he is in love with popular cartoon culture and he wants someone to make representations true to the graphic images he is in love with.
I have observed this boys journey and it has been slow and gradual, but it has taught me a leason in patience and authenticity, because we are always telling ourselves that to teach well you must know the subject matter, and for me to teach well is to know the children i teach well.
If i had been true to this i would not have worried about the fact that this boy could not, would not try to draw or express himself visually, because he has always been in charge of his choices and has always been able to catch up when he was mentally and physically ready.
Being mentally ready and physically ready to draw is the key to success i believe, no amount of inspiration is going to be able to help you if your body has not been prepared for the journey ahead.
So for the Early Childhood places of play that have little value for being outside and emersing yourself in nature and the value of open space and risk, i believe the journey will be so much slower.
So the inspiration in this case was Hatupatu and the Bird Woman, and the physical preparation came in the way of a wheelchair. Puzzled? yes i was too actually, but you see this child had a full cast on his leg for six weeks so he was in a wheel chair on and off for that period, and what happend was very natural, as he gained very strong hands from learning to move his wheelchair.
So when he sat down with a piece of chalk and expressed his interest in Hatupatu, what happened astounded him and the control and movement had all clicked into place and he was able to draw images he was happy with.
Learning Institution's for our children are becoming more compact, the space inside the class is given the space and the numbers of children inside this space are growing, but what really matters should be the space and state of the environment outside the classroom.
The natural world around us is being classed as out of bounds and too risky and needing too much supervision.
We are restrciting Nga Tamariki from the natural desire to learn as we experience the world evolving around us, and many of us are turned off like a switch when we are put into classes.
There is not a single thing we can not learn watching nature unfold.
My friend learnt that his fingers were strong and that he could draw only because his will power kicked in and being in a wheelchair did not stop him from being outside and joining in with others, his body just adapted, his muscles grew stronger and as a spin off his brain opened new pathways and he linked it to being able to draw now.
The body and mind are our most powerful tools, if you have them both on your side really the world is your oyster. So get outside everyone.
Drawing from memories and experience
The funny things that happen in life are usually better with illustrations to go alongside them.
On Tuesday our teaching team had a late night staff meeting which our centre owner had bought a kitten along too.
All the doors were shut so we just left it to explore, well as the night went on this kitten was suddenly nowhere to be seen.
Attempts to find the kitten proved fruitless and we all left, hoping it would show up in the morning.
Well it did, much to our children's delight, and having a kitten at school for the day is a fun sight indeed for a child.
Many requests were made to go and see the kitten, which was now in the office in a cat cage.
Here is the drawing that came out of this funny experience.
Below is Jan, we explained that the kitten belonged to her, the child that drew her combined her into a cat i think, she was adament that she did not want to draw the kitten as she was fearful of it.
below is the Kitten, which according to one child was snoring, (purring)
Below is another picture of all it's whiskers
Below is the remaining pictures drawn by a very enthusiastic bunch of artists there ages range from 3-4 years.
Thank you to the reader who told me to listen to Dr Sugata Mitra on Ted, and it really does go to show that if you offer the experiences at the heart of a child's interest as well as the resourses to go alongside the rest will follow.
From my own perspective as an artist you do not have the same level of confidence to try and draw something unless you get to experience it as a subject or a form in front of you.
A computer generated picture will not give you the same natural light, it will not give you the same way of searching for the best view, it is not 3D and does not offer as many possibilities.
To copy something is to close up all the possibilities, to use inspiration to recreate is a better opportunity.
I also think children have the ability to have vivid memories there to recall at there leisure, so as an adult if you leave your agenda behind and follow children's the result will amaze you.
Happy experiences
On Tuesday our teaching team had a late night staff meeting which our centre owner had bought a kitten along too.
All the doors were shut so we just left it to explore, well as the night went on this kitten was suddenly nowhere to be seen.
Attempts to find the kitten proved fruitless and we all left, hoping it would show up in the morning.
Well it did, much to our children's delight, and having a kitten at school for the day is a fun sight indeed for a child.
Many requests were made to go and see the kitten, which was now in the office in a cat cage.
Here is the drawing that came out of this funny experience.
Below is Jan, we explained that the kitten belonged to her, the child that drew her combined her into a cat i think, she was adament that she did not want to draw the kitten as she was fearful of it.
below is the Kitten, which according to one child was snoring, (purring)
Below is another picture of all it's whiskers
Below is the remaining pictures drawn by a very enthusiastic bunch of artists there ages range from 3-4 years.
Thank you to the reader who told me to listen to Dr Sugata Mitra on Ted, and it really does go to show that if you offer the experiences at the heart of a child's interest as well as the resourses to go alongside the rest will follow.
From my own perspective as an artist you do not have the same level of confidence to try and draw something unless you get to experience it as a subject or a form in front of you.
A computer generated picture will not give you the same natural light, it will not give you the same way of searching for the best view, it is not 3D and does not offer as many possibilities.
To copy something is to close up all the possibilities, to use inspiration to recreate is a better opportunity.
I also think children have the ability to have vivid memories there to recall at there leisure, so as an adult if you leave your agenda behind and follow children's the result will amaze you.
Happy experiences
The pressure to perform
Today i was thinking about how the pressure to perform, or the pressure occupy children can lead us to some very unmeaningful experiences.
When in the fact if you turn that upside down and put it on its head, then you have the ability to listen, and the intuitiveness to let children's agendas gracefully appear.
The reason i am writing this is because i see it happening all the time at Play and Learn, many of the teachers i work with have the most amazing ability to listen without the pressure to perform, and have the gracefulness of listening without over suggesting.
This is something i have been trying to learn from them, and i think it is getting there.
Perhaps i have always been full of my ideas and the shift to make it more about children's ideas is a balance situation that takes time.
In my study with children and creativity i keep having little break throughs and yesterday i had another one with control and inspiration i want to share with you.
In my setting at Play and Learn, everything is available for children, there is no set agenda for teachers, we follow children's ideas.
In the morning when i arrived a few children gathered around the art table to make cards, i saw they were interested in presentation of cards more than the message of cards, they cut and rolled card and tied around them.
So i offered them a container of ribbons, that kept there curisoities going for quite some time.
We talked through what kind of holding materials they wanted and all agreed cellotape was going to do the job and off they went.
No teacher input was needed after this, and is mostly the case with our competent older children.
But the first timers, and curious on lookers were there at this time, they usually are.
They have a pattern, they come and go, they start something, discard it and leave, they want someting that someone else has, it is the beginning dance of involvement.
Similar to the Dance of Avoidance in 'Creative Authenticity' Ian Roberts,Atelier Saint-Luc Press 2004. (look it up, it is informative )
They pull you from what is happening, into there own space of thinking, but it is raw and it pushes all your control buttons, half of you wants to protect this group that are achieving so much, the other half of you wants to see the dance gain momentum and just stick to an idea, so it a time of conflict.
Thinking about it, the group well into there ideas are already on there path, they do not need protection, once the idea is there and you have found your resources, then the experience is ready to be your own.
The dancing involvers however are the ones that need some support.
Cellotape gets a bit tricky for some smaller hands, so we have these rolls of long white stickers that i offered as a suggestion for some younger children.
Here they are committing to an idea, and what a glorious idea it became, it was so popular it took on followers, it inspired others.
This is creativity and vision at its best, this is letting ideas fly and setting your own agenda.
But still your control barriers pop there little heads up, especially if you are tired.
Mine multiply when i am tired, i am generally not fazed about mess, but when i am tired i have this crazy desire for places to look tidy or i dont function too well.
So as the paper that the stickers are on is growing by the mile and getting crushed and screwed and skated around the room, and as the concentration and involvement and intensity is being displayed in there work, i am there saying i want you to pick up all the paper now please.
Of course they are ignoring me.
Because they are busy, they are following through still, committing to the idea, finishing a piece.
Suddenly i see it for what it is, and my control barriers are pushed away by my admirance, and my delight and amusement in there message.
And as i let go, more happened, i got the stories, Cars! So cars where added, planes where added.
It was a hub of activity for sometime, another teacher came and tried to talk to the children about what they were doing, but to talk in depth at that time took there concentration away and they were so very committed that words were not really needed.
So this is my lesson in letting go and the power of ideas and committment to ideas.
later on i offered the children a paper rubbish bin, and they had just as much fun peeling the stickers off as they did putting them on, and i showed them how to roll the unused sticker sheets up.
Listening was not a compromise at that point.
So it also taught me that we need to be very careful with our timing, so as not to make children compromise there work.
Happy idea making.
When in the fact if you turn that upside down and put it on its head, then you have the ability to listen, and the intuitiveness to let children's agendas gracefully appear.
The reason i am writing this is because i see it happening all the time at Play and Learn, many of the teachers i work with have the most amazing ability to listen without the pressure to perform, and have the gracefulness of listening without over suggesting.
This is something i have been trying to learn from them, and i think it is getting there.
Perhaps i have always been full of my ideas and the shift to make it more about children's ideas is a balance situation that takes time.
In my study with children and creativity i keep having little break throughs and yesterday i had another one with control and inspiration i want to share with you.
In my setting at Play and Learn, everything is available for children, there is no set agenda for teachers, we follow children's ideas.
In the morning when i arrived a few children gathered around the art table to make cards, i saw they were interested in presentation of cards more than the message of cards, they cut and rolled card and tied around them.
So i offered them a container of ribbons, that kept there curisoities going for quite some time.
We talked through what kind of holding materials they wanted and all agreed cellotape was going to do the job and off they went.
No teacher input was needed after this, and is mostly the case with our competent older children.
But the first timers, and curious on lookers were there at this time, they usually are.
They have a pattern, they come and go, they start something, discard it and leave, they want someting that someone else has, it is the beginning dance of involvement.
Similar to the Dance of Avoidance in 'Creative Authenticity' Ian Roberts,Atelier Saint-Luc Press 2004. (look it up, it is informative )
They pull you from what is happening, into there own space of thinking, but it is raw and it pushes all your control buttons, half of you wants to protect this group that are achieving so much, the other half of you wants to see the dance gain momentum and just stick to an idea, so it a time of conflict.
Thinking about it, the group well into there ideas are already on there path, they do not need protection, once the idea is there and you have found your resources, then the experience is ready to be your own.
The dancing involvers however are the ones that need some support.
Cellotape gets a bit tricky for some smaller hands, so we have these rolls of long white stickers that i offered as a suggestion for some younger children.
This is creativity and vision at its best, this is letting ideas fly and setting your own agenda.
But still your control barriers pop there little heads up, especially if you are tired.
Mine multiply when i am tired, i am generally not fazed about mess, but when i am tired i have this crazy desire for places to look tidy or i dont function too well.
So as the paper that the stickers are on is growing by the mile and getting crushed and screwed and skated around the room, and as the concentration and involvement and intensity is being displayed in there work, i am there saying i want you to pick up all the paper now please.
Of course they are ignoring me.
Because they are busy, they are following through still, committing to the idea, finishing a piece.
Suddenly i see it for what it is, and my control barriers are pushed away by my admirance, and my delight and amusement in there message.
And as i let go, more happened, i got the stories, Cars! So cars where added, planes where added.
It was a hub of activity for sometime, another teacher came and tried to talk to the children about what they were doing, but to talk in depth at that time took there concentration away and they were so very committed that words were not really needed.
So this is my lesson in letting go and the power of ideas and committment to ideas.
later on i offered the children a paper rubbish bin, and they had just as much fun peeling the stickers off as they did putting them on, and i showed them how to roll the unused sticker sheets up.
Listening was not a compromise at that point.
So it also taught me that we need to be very careful with our timing, so as not to make children compromise there work.
Happy idea making.
What does progress look like
So today and most days i have been thinking about how wrong we view progress with young children in the arts.
Why you may ask?
Well let me tell you...
We are looking for progress in the terms of productivity, we are studying children's art and looking for a better drawing, a more detailed drawing.
It is the same with painting, we are looking thinking is it anything i can recognise.
It is so defective and so very judgemental to view children's art this way, instead we should be watchful of the passion that is emerging, the longitivity that is developing, the story that is unfolding, the desire that is seen and the biggest one the individuality that is seen.
What we should be monitoring is what it took to get there, the steps taken, the effort put into it, the pride shown, and the way it was noticed by others.
How often do you display children's art and encourage children to look at it and comment on it.
I have actually never done this myself, but now i want to.
I actually want to make a new rule for children i work with and that is do not tell others how to do something, let them find there own style.
I am thinking of someone that found a sponge on the ground and soaked up all the dye and wiped it across there paper until it was all red.
Paint brushes were there, but the sponge had a lot more hand contact, it used more skill, it showed a style.
Children all have their own style, let them find it themselves.
Imagine a world where passion inspires you to create, there would not be any cause in looking for progress,Because if you are looking for progress you have stopped creating.
So i challenge you to look at progress as a feeling, what feelings can you see in childrens creations.
Only when you start to let go of results you can see, and look for results you can feel, then my friends you can truely say you have an understanding of children and there art making.
This is a powerful piece where the artist used so much skill and inpiration and took the photo to prove it.
This is an artist who has the joy of painting in side her and you can see it when you watch her go into her own zone.
This is an artist who is cheeky and uses alternative methods to get the viewer to understand his mission. It is so very playful.
This is an artist who loads his page up with expression, he will tell you about it, but cant you just sense it in the piece.
This is an artist who stays so very true to her love of colour and the way it is seen.
It jumps out at you, it is very curious and orginal, this is an artist who has the confidence to be orginal.
This is another powerful piece about the colours we love, the way we apply it and all the time we take to do it.
So appreciate the pieces children make, enjoy the thought processes and just remember that if you are trying to stop a child from doing what you think is wrong, you may well be messing with there style.
Why you may ask?
Well let me tell you...
We are looking for progress in the terms of productivity, we are studying children's art and looking for a better drawing, a more detailed drawing.
It is the same with painting, we are looking thinking is it anything i can recognise.
It is so defective and so very judgemental to view children's art this way, instead we should be watchful of the passion that is emerging, the longitivity that is developing, the story that is unfolding, the desire that is seen and the biggest one the individuality that is seen.
What we should be monitoring is what it took to get there, the steps taken, the effort put into it, the pride shown, and the way it was noticed by others.
How often do you display children's art and encourage children to look at it and comment on it.
I have actually never done this myself, but now i want to.
I actually want to make a new rule for children i work with and that is do not tell others how to do something, let them find there own style.
I am thinking of someone that found a sponge on the ground and soaked up all the dye and wiped it across there paper until it was all red.
Paint brushes were there, but the sponge had a lot more hand contact, it used more skill, it showed a style.
Children all have their own style, let them find it themselves.
Imagine a world where passion inspires you to create, there would not be any cause in looking for progress,Because if you are looking for progress you have stopped creating.
So i challenge you to look at progress as a feeling, what feelings can you see in childrens creations.
Only when you start to let go of results you can see, and look for results you can feel, then my friends you can truely say you have an understanding of children and there art making.
This is a powerful piece where the artist used so much skill and inpiration and took the photo to prove it.
This is an artist who has the joy of painting in side her and you can see it when you watch her go into her own zone.
It jumps out at you, it is very curious and orginal, this is an artist who has the confidence to be orginal.
So appreciate the pieces children make, enjoy the thought processes and just remember that if you are trying to stop a child from doing what you think is wrong, you may well be messing with there style.
Are you offering experiences in art or are you generating a copy cat
A very wise teacher said to me today "if you stay focussed on the making, you will have a far better relationship with the process.
When we are teaching very young children about art and creativity, In New Zealand it is common practise to make sure the experience is about the practise and not the product, but does it really stop us putting our ideas in children's heads, and leading experiences by what we know, instead of what they know.
Do we pile on the ideas to get them going, to help them have vision.
I know myself i am quilty of pluging in the hot glue guns and pulling out the collage materials and then feeling good about helping a child to see just what can be stuck together with hot glue.
I made a promise to myself today to never do that anymore, i realise now art is the journey of your thinking, art is a journey of your discoveries and even more art is a journey of your mistakes.
I want to challenge teachers to become more active in developing playful thought processes with children and art resourses.
I also want to remind them that playfulness can look like tipping and wasting.
When i think about all the years i have wasted teaching art, making sure children can stick without wasting the cellotape or glue with out just squeezing, really i cringe.
I cringe because how can you find out about a resourse without understanding its properties, how can you work out glue is sticky unless you put it all over your hands and have stuff stuck to you.
The same with cellotape, what is the point of having so much in one single roll if you can not get a giant piece and pull and pull and pull, little hands are not ready for little pieces, it is fundamentally wrong to expect a small child to use the smallest piece.
More than that why do we want them too, we really owe it to children to unwind all our own practises in art, because what we have learnt is all about copying.
My art used to be about seeing other art and copying it, but as i am discovering, art is a stage of thinking and action, and more often than not having a preconcieved idea about doing it limits our creativity.
Now do not misunderstand me, there is nothing wrong with inspiration, and inspiration can come from other works of art, inspiration can come from picture books, or traditional craft processes, but it should never dominate the experience of the child.
So next time someone comes to you saying i want to make a boat, i challenge you to get on board with the thought processes first.
Ask the child "what kind of materials do you think you want to make it from?,
Were you thinking of something hard or soft?
Give them the whole experience by saying do you want to come and see if there is anything you want to start with, and then jump on board with the thought processes, talk about your experiences with boats, draw out there experiences with boats, get into the playful creative zone.
We owe it to our future artists to get out of copycat mode, take children hands on a journey just like taking a walk into the unknown, take one step at a time and allow children the freedom to just go where there mind takes them.
Happy art making.
When we are teaching very young children about art and creativity, In New Zealand it is common practise to make sure the experience is about the practise and not the product, but does it really stop us putting our ideas in children's heads, and leading experiences by what we know, instead of what they know.
Do we pile on the ideas to get them going, to help them have vision.
I know myself i am quilty of pluging in the hot glue guns and pulling out the collage materials and then feeling good about helping a child to see just what can be stuck together with hot glue.
I made a promise to myself today to never do that anymore, i realise now art is the journey of your thinking, art is a journey of your discoveries and even more art is a journey of your mistakes.
I want to challenge teachers to become more active in developing playful thought processes with children and art resourses.
I also want to remind them that playfulness can look like tipping and wasting.
When i think about all the years i have wasted teaching art, making sure children can stick without wasting the cellotape or glue with out just squeezing, really i cringe.
I cringe because how can you find out about a resourse without understanding its properties, how can you work out glue is sticky unless you put it all over your hands and have stuff stuck to you.
The same with cellotape, what is the point of having so much in one single roll if you can not get a giant piece and pull and pull and pull, little hands are not ready for little pieces, it is fundamentally wrong to expect a small child to use the smallest piece.
More than that why do we want them too, we really owe it to children to unwind all our own practises in art, because what we have learnt is all about copying.
My art used to be about seeing other art and copying it, but as i am discovering, art is a stage of thinking and action, and more often than not having a preconcieved idea about doing it limits our creativity.
Now do not misunderstand me, there is nothing wrong with inspiration, and inspiration can come from other works of art, inspiration can come from picture books, or traditional craft processes, but it should never dominate the experience of the child.
So next time someone comes to you saying i want to make a boat, i challenge you to get on board with the thought processes first.
Ask the child "what kind of materials do you think you want to make it from?,
Were you thinking of something hard or soft?
Give them the whole experience by saying do you want to come and see if there is anything you want to start with, and then jump on board with the thought processes, talk about your experiences with boats, draw out there experiences with boats, get into the playful creative zone.
We owe it to our future artists to get out of copycat mode, take children hands on a journey just like taking a walk into the unknown, take one step at a time and allow children the freedom to just go where there mind takes them.
Happy art making.
Where are you hiding your inspiration
I have been spending a lot of time researching children and there creative journeys in the last few months and inspiration is a key factor that i am seeing come into the relationship between children coming back to the art table or art easels.
Actually i am seeing a lot of key factors but inspiration is one that is quite huge for children and it has me wondering "If children are not inspired, are children not seeing the link to become involved".
So what does inspiration look like you may wonder, how on earth do i inspire a young child to become creative in the arts.
I believe it is all about children's admiration and children's desires, and influencing there thinking and priorities in a creative way .
For many of us it is safe to say that being creative is not a priority, it is a fantasy and i am seeing that perhaps it is similar for young children, and we are limiting children's experiences with our own priorities and our own thinking, i believe we need to put art in the foremost areas of our minds to make them see the benefits of creative expression.
Take paint Easels for instance, i have found that if i set them up first thing in the morning before i get outdoor equipment like balls and hockey sticks out i am seeing a lot more boys come and spend that little bit longer than it takes to add the odd flick of paint, and lose interest.
Inspiration can mean adding a vase of flowers to the art table, inspiration can mean looking at books that have amazing use of colour.
Inspiration can mean looking at colour charts, colour is the best inspiration, i see colour as a bag of jellybeans, who can go past jellybeans without having a try.
Inspiration can mean pairing children together that admire each other and pointing out to reluctant children when there friends they admire are painting and creating.
Maybe you are inspiring a first experience in art, or maybe you are inspiring a reluctant artist,but i really believe we all need the chance to be inspired to create great beauty.
At Play and Learn many children have been inspired by all the paint pots we had donated to us from Bunnings, amazing colour test pots that offer a blend of colours all ready to go.
Children are also inspired by a colour wheel i added to the paint station, now children take full control of the colours they want to paint with.
Children are also inspired by the colours in nature, taking a group of children out to sit by the swan plant to paint is a great way to realign priorities.
Many teachers have amazing cultural rituals and experiences that can inspire children, i just want to challenge everyone that works with young children and ask them "what inspiration are you hiding from children?" .
Actually i am seeing a lot of key factors but inspiration is one that is quite huge for children and it has me wondering "If children are not inspired, are children not seeing the link to become involved".
So what does inspiration look like you may wonder, how on earth do i inspire a young child to become creative in the arts.
I believe it is all about children's admiration and children's desires, and influencing there thinking and priorities in a creative way .
For many of us it is safe to say that being creative is not a priority, it is a fantasy and i am seeing that perhaps it is similar for young children, and we are limiting children's experiences with our own priorities and our own thinking, i believe we need to put art in the foremost areas of our minds to make them see the benefits of creative expression.
Take paint Easels for instance, i have found that if i set them up first thing in the morning before i get outdoor equipment like balls and hockey sticks out i am seeing a lot more boys come and spend that little bit longer than it takes to add the odd flick of paint, and lose interest.
Inspiration can mean adding a vase of flowers to the art table, inspiration can mean looking at books that have amazing use of colour.
Inspiration can mean looking at colour charts, colour is the best inspiration, i see colour as a bag of jellybeans, who can go past jellybeans without having a try.
Inspiration can mean pairing children together that admire each other and pointing out to reluctant children when there friends they admire are painting and creating.
Maybe you are inspiring a first experience in art, or maybe you are inspiring a reluctant artist,but i really believe we all need the chance to be inspired to create great beauty.
At Play and Learn many children have been inspired by all the paint pots we had donated to us from Bunnings, amazing colour test pots that offer a blend of colours all ready to go.
Children are also inspired by a colour wheel i added to the paint station, now children take full control of the colours they want to paint with.
Children are also inspired by the colours in nature, taking a group of children out to sit by the swan plant to paint is a great way to realign priorities.
Many teachers have amazing cultural rituals and experiences that can inspire children, i just want to challenge everyone that works with young children and ask them "what inspiration are you hiding from children?" .
Get to now your control barriers
When you are working with very young children and art making your control barriers can pop up and limit what you feel you can do.
I would describe a control barrier as a natural fustration that is linked with your upbringing and your experiences in art.
I think they are quite historic, and i think the better we can identify them, then we can challenge ourselves to stop letting them take over the experience.
My art barrier was always wasting paint, it comes from never having paint at home, not the kind you can tip from a bottle, so to see someone waste this resourse i personally never had any experiences with as a child made it very difficult for me to see wastage.
But i have worked on it and made ways to accept and teach children that do not think about wastage.
In the past i might have stopped children in there tracks and sent them away, completely stopping the first experiences because of my problem.
What i should have been focussing on was children's facial expressions, children's concentration and children's involvement because this was all there in a tipping momment.
Now i teach printmaking, for what can be tipped and poured can be transfered and absorbed, you just need the right materials.
All good art stations should have a range of sponges handy.
Then there is the follow through of learning, if that is an interest set it up, just last week i noticed that the eye droppers are difficult to use if you have not had much practise so i put different dyes in the water trough in jars and invited children to a practise session.
For older children i like to make some rules, such as you can not change the colours in the tall jars, but you can make your own colours in the short jars.
For infants and toddlers no rules apply, different ages different experimental processes.
Now you might think that this opens up the opportunity for chaos at the art table next time you get them out, but it has the opposite effect, it enforces different situations and different techniques and helps children to think about the difference in situations.
It helps children to realise that some prefer a dry work station, so they need to move to an area or space on the table where others are happy for a wet surface.
I believe it all comes down to divergent thinking and knowing your limits, understanding your limits, teaching your limits, but learning to be flexible with your limits.
Give the control to our children, it is there education, it is there chance to be able to make mistakes and learn how to correct them, powder paints are a fantastic resourse for children to learn about water consistancy and mixing, let them choose if they will make them runny or thick.
True artists are skilled at finding new ways to use the same materials, that is what makes us notice art in the first place, it is the wow factor, and it makes you think and feel differently about a piece of art.
It is the thinking factors we need to be on board with to understand how artists get there pieces.
Children have this natural curiosity and perhaps we have been teaching them to unlearn it.
Teachers may be the ones that have it wrong.
Here are some great photos of a session at Play and Learn in Clarks Beach.
Our medium was the tempura blocks.
Now these blocks are amazing, one of my favourites to use with children, but do we get all uptight about how to use them, because i have to say they are not really appreciated in my setting and i am on a mission to change that.
So lets get experimental i say, lets get playful, lets discover the true potential of all the colour potentials of these paints.
How do we do that, in this setting we add water, we allow tipping, rubbing, we offer brushes without the expectation they will be used, we offer absorbant rollers that will not crush the materials.
Why? because the best discoveries come from trying materials out with no expectations.
It is easy enough to go and get a dry piece of paper if you decide you want to try out the colours away from the experimental, but if you just offer one way to try, half the time these resourses sit unused.
Happy art making
I would describe a control barrier as a natural fustration that is linked with your upbringing and your experiences in art.
I think they are quite historic, and i think the better we can identify them, then we can challenge ourselves to stop letting them take over the experience.
My art barrier was always wasting paint, it comes from never having paint at home, not the kind you can tip from a bottle, so to see someone waste this resourse i personally never had any experiences with as a child made it very difficult for me to see wastage.
But i have worked on it and made ways to accept and teach children that do not think about wastage.
In the past i might have stopped children in there tracks and sent them away, completely stopping the first experiences because of my problem.
What i should have been focussing on was children's facial expressions, children's concentration and children's involvement because this was all there in a tipping momment.
Now i teach printmaking, for what can be tipped and poured can be transfered and absorbed, you just need the right materials.
All good art stations should have a range of sponges handy.
Then there is the follow through of learning, if that is an interest set it up, just last week i noticed that the eye droppers are difficult to use if you have not had much practise so i put different dyes in the water trough in jars and invited children to a practise session.
For older children i like to make some rules, such as you can not change the colours in the tall jars, but you can make your own colours in the short jars.
For infants and toddlers no rules apply, different ages different experimental processes.
Now you might think that this opens up the opportunity for chaos at the art table next time you get them out, but it has the opposite effect, it enforces different situations and different techniques and helps children to think about the difference in situations.
It helps children to realise that some prefer a dry work station, so they need to move to an area or space on the table where others are happy for a wet surface.
I believe it all comes down to divergent thinking and knowing your limits, understanding your limits, teaching your limits, but learning to be flexible with your limits.
Give the control to our children, it is there education, it is there chance to be able to make mistakes and learn how to correct them, powder paints are a fantastic resourse for children to learn about water consistancy and mixing, let them choose if they will make them runny or thick.
True artists are skilled at finding new ways to use the same materials, that is what makes us notice art in the first place, it is the wow factor, and it makes you think and feel differently about a piece of art.
It is the thinking factors we need to be on board with to understand how artists get there pieces.
Children have this natural curiosity and perhaps we have been teaching them to unlearn it.
Teachers may be the ones that have it wrong.
Here are some great photos of a session at Play and Learn in Clarks Beach.
Our medium was the tempura blocks.
Now these blocks are amazing, one of my favourites to use with children, but do we get all uptight about how to use them, because i have to say they are not really appreciated in my setting and i am on a mission to change that.
So lets get experimental i say, lets get playful, lets discover the true potential of all the colour potentials of these paints.
How do we do that, in this setting we add water, we allow tipping, rubbing, we offer brushes without the expectation they will be used, we offer absorbant rollers that will not crush the materials.
Why? because the best discoveries come from trying materials out with no expectations.
It is easy enough to go and get a dry piece of paper if you decide you want to try out the colours away from the experimental, but if you just offer one way to try, half the time these resourses sit unused.
Happy art making
Unwinding art practises
Teaching young children to nurture there creative side is the same as teaching in general, it is about knowing your children, listening to your children and being really in tune with your children.
Teaching young children to nurture there creative sides, involves aiming high for your children and believing in the value of an idea.
My in depth investigations and thinking started to clarify after winning a scholarship to Reggio Emilia in 2010. Visiting Reggio Emilia and studying with 100 other like minded individuals was like finding your clan.
(Ken Robinson can enlighten you more about finding your clan.)
Reggio Emilia is a province in Italy where they have this world famous curriculum based around creative expression.
In Reggio Emilia they have a way of seeing the world through children’s eyes, they have a deep understanding and spend a significant amount of time collaborating with each educator to understand what children readily absorb through there experiences.
They capture the naivety of children’s thoughts as well as the animated high spiritedness children have for objects of desire.
Reggio Emilia was the inspiration behind my blog and if the reader wishes they are advised to go back to the beginning of my blog and read my article about my experiences in Reggio Emilia.
After attending Reggio Emilia I started studying 5 children in my centre to see if the desire for art is embedded in a person.
I was particularly interested in involving boys in art, as well as what I thought were disruptive children (big mistake, but we must challenge our perceptions to really learn value)
As well as children that had little interest in art.
I hope to gain permission to share these stories with the reader in time, but for now I am going to share the first finding of my enlightened perceptions of the time children spend being creative.
Finding the point of entry, accepting your invitation into a child’s perception of creativity…..The ground work.
The children I have known and that have shared there artistic expression with me , if I think back I can recall one defining moment where I have observed and believed that there is a spark of desire in there actions.
And it is a spark of desire, a mesmerised look, an intruding thought, an extension of interest that leads them to link what they like and desire in the world of creativeness and colour.
How do they get there you ask?
You follow them on their journey, you introduce them to the mediums of there choice.
For some children that first introduction is fleeting and for others it is vast and hollow and tactile with great sensory involvement, because using art will awaken all your senses.
The very nature of art is intuitive, so a first experience can be quite a moment, don’t try to hard to analyse it, this is not an analytical experience. This is a feeling moment, a time just to be.
Whatever you want to call it, it will be an introduction and I implore you to be very gentle with a child in there first experience. Do not analyse, or push for greatness all at once.
Instead offer time, patience, acceptance, describing words then sit back and watch.
Allow yourself to be the observer, even if it means watching paints being tipped over.
Start with infants and toddlers, relax a little, unwind your expectations, your head is easily clouding with what you are expecting.
But it is not your expectations that matter in this moment.
Let infants and toddlers show you there point of view.
Infants and toddlers will want to see paint tip, that is there stage of development, and what better way to learn about the texture and clarity and denseness of paint than to see it tip and pour and run out.
Even better set it up so it can tip and pour and travel. Travelling adds a deeper level of engagement.
The sooner we realise it is time to let children do what comes naturally to them; the more we will be allowing creativity to form.
I believe we must adopt the same attitude for older children who have clearly not had experiences with paints because they will also tip and smear and splat, be very careful not to scold children away from an experience you have set up because they do not follow your point of view.
Getting children back into art practises when they have had a bad experience is very difficult.
Speaking from experience I think we need to be very gentle with the beginning stages of art with our children.
Curiosity tells children what they want, desire impels children to act, educators can feel the need to rush in and correct, it is my desire to break that cycle.
Next time I would like to share my opinion on MESS……
My Thoughts on mess
I believe children have their own agenda with art and the processes they use. From a year spent watching a set of three year old twins, a boy and a girl continuously tip and smear, I can understand the frustration some teachers may feel about mess.
Let me tell you it is your problem. Yes it is your problem. The problem is not theirs. They are engaged in creative experimental processes and are creating a beginning experience that will involve mess. Children are going to get to know their materials in their own unique way and different materials evoke different reactions from children so be mindful of that. Because when it comes to art, there is no set desired way to use a resource, it is simply a medium.
Do not under estimate the power of looking. That is where the curiosity and desire is building up. When it can no longer be contained in the mind then I believe children are ready for there first encounters.
Speaking from experience I think we need to be very gentle with the beginning stages with children. Curiosity tells children what they want, desire impels children to act, we feel the need to rush in and correct. How can we correct before we let children follow through with their true interest and starting point? Children should be allowed to handle materials and be able to find out about them in a way that suits their ideas and there age.
I see it like window shopping. A good display catches you eye. Perhaps it even draws you in to have a closer look. You look at the design, perhaps you look for flaws, admire the shine, love the colour but not everyone commits to something they want straight away. Sometimes you need time to know if you really are committed to trying.
.jpg)
Touching and feeling can sometimes look like breaking, being rough, wasting, not sharing or tipping. Change your lens to one that sees a child that is present in the art room starting right at the beginning, wondering how a process works. Everything creative in an art room is a process; never assume a child is intentionally destroying an area. Please let them enjoy there beginning experiences.
Let me tell you it is your problem. Yes it is your problem. The problem is not theirs. They are engaged in creative experimental processes and are creating a beginning experience that will involve mess. Children are going to get to know their materials in their own unique way and different materials evoke different reactions from children so be mindful of that. Because when it comes to art, there is no set desired way to use a resource, it is simply a medium.
Do not under estimate the power of looking. That is where the curiosity and desire is building up. When it can no longer be contained in the mind then I believe children are ready for there first encounters.
I see it like window shopping. A good display catches you eye. Perhaps it even draws you in to have a closer look. You look at the design, perhaps you look for flaws, admire the shine, love the colour but not everyone commits to something they want straight away. Sometimes you need time to know if you really are committed to trying.
.jpg)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)