To some, this may look like children simply just painting, others may see the potential for mess. To us here at Tiny Hoppers Kingston West, we see such a great learning opportunity! With this simple painting activity, one of the most important things that children learned here was boundaries and respect. How? By only painting on the paper, they learned the boundary of their art and creative freedom was to stay within the paper area and not on the walls. They respected that boundary, and respected our property by not extending their painting to the walls.
The children were able to choose their own colours and materials to paint with. Many chose their hands, which is not surprising because brushing paint onto their hands or squishing it between their fingers is a captivating sensory experience on its own. They made brush strokes on the paper, handprints, finger prints, and rubbed their hands up and down and all over the paper to create unique art. They worked together, shared materials, discussed textures and colours, and explored with mixing colours. With this activity the children are gaining language skills, sensory experiences, fine motor skills, social and emotional skills, science/intellectual skills, and more.
Additionally as important, these paintings were just a start, this class is creating murals for their walls that will be displayed in the classroom. This will create a sense of belonging, confidence and pride in what they created, and a sense of identity and self expression. We are so proud of our little artists, and they are surely proud of themselves!
Love and Learning,
Tiny Hoppers Kingston West
