"Art has the role in education of helping children become more like themselves and less like everyone else" -Sydney Clemens
Through the sporadic rain showers and intermittent sunny skies, the children in the forest this week have been busy filling the space with colour. This week we have been experimenting with watercolours and our children found interesting ways of using it. Some approached their canvasses with paintbrushes heavy with paint and watched how the colours ran around the white paper - refusing to be controlled. They watched how it rejected the idea of staying within the lines, how it trickled downwards and how it seemed determined to marry up with other colours also running around on the page and blending to form new colours. There was joy to be had in discovering that the amount of water you mix with the paint changes how the paint behaves, as well as how it changes the strength of the colours. Some children were eager to share their art work with educators and discuss what they were creating, but where other children were becoming lost in the art process, their faces displaying intense concentration, it was important for us not to interrupt and to stand back instead and watch the joy as they covered their paper, the table, their hands and their waterproofs in aqua blues, reds and greens!
Another beautiful moment happened at one of our art tables this week when a child asked Xiao to draw a submarine. Not wanting to interfere with a child's creative expression, Xiao kept encouraging the child to have a go at drawing their own. At first, the child was adamant that they didn't know how but a few minutes later, they pulled a lid off a pen and Xiao watched out of the corner of his eye as the child became lost in concentration. Later, in a moment of pride, the child held up a piece of paper for Xiao to see - a large circle encased three smaller circles with faces inside them. 'Things' stuck out of the top of the large circle and a large X was attached with a line. Pointing to the inside circles the child said "These are the windows and the first one is the driver and they are taking the other two for a walk in the ocean" and then pointing the 'things' sticking out the top he said "This one is the periscope and the other is the telescope", then pointing to the X, he added "…and this is the propeller that goes round and round and round!". To watch children go from "I can't do it", to producing something original to them, that was laced with so much detail and story, was magical.
Clay hedgehogs were popping up around the forest as children formed little bodies and pushed in collections of small sticks to make the spikes. This gave children lots of opportunity to talk to Miranda, Celine and Rosa about the hedgehogs and other wildlife that visit their gardens. This interest in wildlife was followed with visits to the river to see if they could spot fish or if the heron had returned but the water was deep and flowing fast and the children made observations about the patterns the sun made on the water. Role play featuring sharks and dinosaurs pursued and some children in Miranda's group even requested to make a ghost train! They made a line of Sainsbury's delivery crates and each child had their own carriage and the educators were the ghosts, witches and skeletons (although, judging by the laughter, the adults acting skills were not very convincing)!
We hope you all have a restful weekend and we look forward to more Autumnal fun next week!
Little Forest Folk
Twickenham