Over the last few weeks there's been an increasing demand in arts and crafts-based activity, particularly colouring in from many of the children. Whether sitting under our large cherry tree, shaded from the summer sun, enjoying a social chat with friends whilst colouring rainbows or diggers. Or copying the same shade of red from the poppies in our wildflower red to fill in the flower outlines. It's been a very popular past time. From planes to shells, baby animals to monster trucks, the requests have been very varied and occasionally tricky to find, sadly a unicorn driving a car was a request that we couldn't fulfil. But we looked, we searched, together- safely on the internet. Letters were found and pressed on the keyboard and requests typed. We learnt how to scroll up and down the screen, to choose our favourite. Decide between ourselves what we wanted to colour in. Negotiated, discussed, disagreed, persuaded, suggested and finally agreed.
From colouring in, to other mark making activities, the children keen to extend their efforts. Writing numbers and letters, exploring how to colour by number, practicing correct sequencing of names and signing their own artwork with a flourish. Exploring colour and shade, even sharpening pencils. There's been lots of opportunity to mark make and create. A huge piece of paper provided the base for the wooden train track, what shall we draw? "it's a t-rex!" "treasure!" "flowers" "my mummy" "it's raining!" enabling the children to work together.
A large horizontal landscape gave the children the opportunity to add their own ships, planes and cars. Soon the sun was shining, birds flew through the sky and even a tree appeared once a beach had been added. It has been infectious, encouraging children to join in with their friends, some not so keen on mark making have had a go, proud of their efforts and enjoying the experience. The work out of small muscles has continued in other activities too. The water sprayers were a big hit and kept us all cool, the sun warm even at 9 in the morning. The children all quickly mastered the movement needed to spray out the water, enjoying creating rainbows in the mist as the sun shone down. Shells and sea creatures were examined up close and brushed all over with soapy water, a beach created on the angled tray. Seals were soon joined by Superman and Spiderman who were also enjoying a day at the seaside. Lots of the activities we have been focusing on have been to support the development of communication skills. Working in pairs to re-create a pattern with wooden blocks was a tricky task for pre-schoolers, approached differently by each of the pairs, the only requirement- that they worked together, and both must contribute. Whether division of labour by colour or taking in turns to find and place a block, approaches differed; and some needed more adult facilitation than others, but we were so proud of their efforts. Experiencing collaboration and lots of listening to our friends. This soon extended on to using the large foam blocks to build aircraft. Inspired by one of their friends' efforts, soon there were multiple, the children enjoying sitting in their planes, some built alone, others had built together. Next week we will enjoy extending their enjoyment further with some more related activities to encourage more mark making and definitely more aeroplanes!
