"Materials are truly important in the moment they become a language that is owned by the children and not just a technique that has to be learned or used in only one way. Materials should become languages to give voice to children's thoughts, mental images, and sense of possibility about entering into relationships with the other children. Through materials, children have a chance to collaborate, cooperate, and exchange knowledge with each other" (Bambini, pg. 64)
Following in our weaving footsteps the Wednesday and Friday Group embarked on sewing. With small round hoops pulling taut burlap material and dull embroidery needles with brightly colored thread we began to explore sewing. In my teaching and directing days it was never done in isolation. While I love having the children alone to focus with me it means that sometimes documenting through video and photos is put aside in order to help the children. Sewing required more of my assistance than I had thought and so I don't have quite as much documentation of the children's experiences.
Sewing presents many explorations, poking and pulling the needle through, moving the needle in and out, around and down, as well as pulling on the string itself.
As time went on I added beads to the mix. Sebastien, who had more time and experience with sewing, easily incorporated the beads into his sewing while other experimented with them but ultimately pursued simply sewing.
After using the smaller individual hoops for a few weeks, we moved on to using larger group hoops.
I chose clay for the first big materials exploration with the Tuesday Group. Clay is messy but easily wiped away, many items can be used in conjunction with clay and it allows for many possibilities, also clay in large block form has an imposing "wow factor" presence. For the first encounter I didn't set anything out with the clay but let the children explore it in it's most basic block form. With two-twenty five pound blocks of clay stacked on top of each other the children were intrigued but each approached and experienced the clay differently.
Although I didn't set any "tools" next to the clay there were plenty of items around the room and the children could bring anything they wanted to the clay. Amalia began her exploration by just watching as Sebastien and Hayden interacted with the clay. At some point some small balls of clay were made and the smaller size appealed to Amalia and she carried two around for some time. Toward the end of playgroup Amalia approached the clay block on her own and began to dig into it as she had seen her friends earlier in the session. Letting children engage in the material at their own pace and comfort level shows them that we trust their process and gives them the space and time to learn, understand, and discover a new material.
Hayden started with both hands in the clay but once he discovered what the clay left on his hands he switched to using a tool (scissors) as a means to interact with the clay. Having Sebastien, who has interacted with Clay often, provided the children with a more skilled and knowledgeable peer in using the clay. Seeing Sebastien use scissors in the clay gave Hayden a new way to continue his exploration. As time went on and more interactions with the clay continued Hayden was more comfortable with touching the clay and started extending the uses of the clay by using clumps to layer over a little car.
Clay has so many wonderful properties and sometimes a child uses the clay in a way that even surprises me. Sebastien brought the clay over to the art easel and proceeded to press and stick clay pieces onto the paper after he watched Hayden press his clay covered hands on the paper. He expanded on Hayden's idea and took it to the next level. If clay on your hands leaves a mark on paper, what happens when I put clay on the paper? When working with clay (versus say play-dough) children have to exert a lot of pressure to grab, mold, and press the clay. You can hear how hard Sebastien is working to get the clay to stick.
Jaden missed the Tuesday Group's first encounter with clay but he made up for it during the second exploration. At first Jaden really wasn't interested in interacting with the clay. Knowing Jaden's interests I placed a few cars, trucks on the clay to see if that would peak his interest. As the other children used the vehicles on the clay, Jaden did take notice of the clay and began interacting with it. As his exploration continue he let go of the use of the vehicle and moved on to really "work" the clay. With a lot of activity around him he worked diligently with a wooden knife to "cut" clay off the block and place it in a bucket. Jaden worked long and hard filling the bucket and even moved on to get a bigger bucket to fill.
A new group of children, exciting new possibilities. The new Tuesday group consists of three new friends, Hayden, Jaden, and Amalia in addition to Sebastien. For the first four weeks it was my intention to observe and come to know the interests and personalities of this new group. Letting the environment, the children themselves, and the parents be the primary focus as we learned more about each other. I did set out different drawing opportunities for the children just to gauge what drew children to the experience. It is extremely important for children to feel comfortable in the environment and with each other. Once the children establish themselves in the context of playgroup introducing new materials and experiences can then take more of a focus during our time together.
Recently during group meeting Hannah made her way over to the art area where the easels were set up with pens and other drawing utensils. She began drawing with great purpose. It was apparent almost immediately that Hannah was attempting to represent an idea on the paper. She very carefully drew a round shape put two eyes, a mouth, and ears. After she finished she exclaimed "mira" (Hannah's primary language is Spanish) and was delighted in her creation. She then proceeded to duplicate her "face" and make more. The round shape proved to be a little tricky but she was persistent, trying again and again to get the shape she desired. Hannah spent a long time working. This was the first time any of the children have purposefully drew and labeled a drawing. I inquired if Hannah had been practicing drawing faces at home and her father indicated that this was the first time he had ever seen her draw in such a manner.
Hannah's interest and growth in drawing did not go unnoticed by the other children. The following week Hannah was back at the easels practicing her faces. Sebastien and Bryce came over and joined in. If you listen, you can hear Sebastien saying "over, under, over, under" as he moves the pen on the paper. This is the time it is important for adults to choose carefully what they say while children begin representing ideas through art mediums. Here's a link to a previous article: Supporting Children's Art Explorations.
One of the best ways to get children to talk about their drawing is to ask very open ended questions like, "tell me about your drawing" instead of "what is it" or "is it a _____ (fill in the blank with what you think it is)". Sometimes children draw just to draw and don't have a goal in mind of what it is or what it is going to be and when we label their drawing for them it takes away the opportunity for the child to express what it is they were actually working on. Children want to please adults so when a parent says "oh, it looks like you drew a tree", the child will most likely respond "yes", even if that is not their intention. Even a simple "wow" or "look at what you did" is enough to get children talking about their drawing. Theo is working on the shapes of letters, I only caught the tail end of his drawing but he is beginning to make the connection that certain shapes represent letters.
Most of the time I say nothing at all and just listen to the children as they draw. As Max draws I am intrigued by his train of thought. First he sings a little bit of twinkle, twinkle, little star but then is distracted by something he finds on the easel. He returns to his drawing and says something I don't quite catch but then he labels his drawing "a balloon". Did the round shape with the long tail remind him of a balloon and thus he labeled it a ballon? Was he thinking of things in the sky as he sang twinkle, twinkle and then remembered balloons are also in the sky? Simply fascinating.
One of the most challenging aspects of playgroup is understanding that each group has different strengths and work together in different ways. Introducing group meeting to both the Wednesday and Friday group allowed me to see more clearly how these two different groups of children work as a whole group. The Wednesday group very easily fell into the routine of group meeting (three or the four children also attend school settings outside of playgroup) whereas the Friday group seemed uninterested in gathering in the manner I presented (one of the four children attends school outside of playgroup). Instead of continuing to proceed with group meeting I decided to take the time to examine more closely how the Friday group relates to one another and how they naturally come together without my influence. By understanding what naturally draws them together and see the ebb and flow of their interactions I can better present and engage the children in a more formal meeting time.
The following video highlights the children spontaneously coming together at the swing and working together toward a common goal; successfully pushing a friend on the swing. Even though Bryce and Kaia are a bit on the perimeter of the interaction they are still watching and engaging with the interaction. Bryce's enthusiasm spills over to Hannah and Kaia tries to coach Hannah on Sebastien's technique of hold on to one's foot to get a bigger swing when it is her turn inside the swing.
There is a lot of trust and negotiation that children use to work through pushing each other and my role becomes guiding the children to ask questions and speak to one another. Kaia is trying to communicate her needs to Hannah and Sebastien is trying to find a way to be able to push Kaia. Although the interaction seems so simple in it's execution, the children have a lot to contend with; how to push the friend, how high to push, how to make sure the swing doesn't hit one's body, all the while maintaining the fun and cooperative atmosphere.
One of my goals in the new space was to make visible the children's work. Part of making the children's work visible is reflecting back to the children the work they have done during previous sessions. Since I only see the children once a week this becomes an important part of recalling the children's memory of an experience. Through seeing images of themselves around the room and presenting the images to them I can bring the children back to a prior experience and then build further. The Wednesday group really enjoys group meeting and I presented them with photos of themselves weaving. The children grappled with how to explain what they saw (they are still gaining the vocabulary that encompasses weaving) and finally Caleb decided just to show me what he knew. The revisiting also brought Max to the weaving which he had not been interested in before.
Once I presented the photos during group meeting I then placed them next to the loom for children to look at and explore. The Friday group engaged more with the photos when they could come to them on their own terms.
One of my goals of Materials Playgroup is to introduce materials to children and watch them create. I had grand plans for weaving and built a loom just for the children. I quickly realized that although the children had used ribbon in the past, weaving was a little too high above their zone of proximal development. What is the zone of proximal development? It is a concept developed by the social constructivist Lev Vygotsky and relates to the difference between what a child can accomplish without any help and what he or she can do with assistance. The children are still gaining the small motor development to be able to complete the task so even with a little guidance they struggled with using different kinds of ribbon to weave on the loom. I view the children as so capable and competent that I sometimes forget that certain experiences need more than just competence and interest but also the physical development to complement the other skills children already have. It became very clear (I already had the notion during their first experience) to me during Friday's playgroup that it might be better to wait on weaving for a bit when Sebastien gathered all the ribbon from the weaving area, put it in a bucket, placed it on the table and said, "weaving is too hard".
The loom will not disappear in the play space but will be placed on the wall at the children's level and I will continue to leave items next to the loom for exploration. I do want to reflect the experience back to the children by viewing photos of themselves and placing the photos near the loom to see if they are inspired to continue trying to weave.
In the new year playgroup begins with a few changes. For part of playgroup I am with the children alone, allowing more focus on the experience we explore and also time to gather together for a group meeting. Group meeting is a time where the children and I meet together to sing, laugh, discuss, and more. At this age group meeting is really just about coming together as a group. It will be a time I introduce materials, talk about observations, share a story or ideas and reflect previous experiences back to the children. To begin the meeting I have large cards with the first letter of each child's name. I use this just as a marker to get used to gathering together. I really don't care if they sit on them or not. During our first group meeting I gather the children to play a little game that also introduces the materials we will be using while weaving on the loom.
The wonderful and hard thing about video taping yourself in action is that you get to look closely at what worked and also where you went astray. Like I wonder why I didn't just let Caleb peek in the bag, especially after I said I thought there might be snakes in there (where did I pull that from?). I realize my mistake almost immediately and when Sebastien peeks in (the second time) and pulls out an item I just follow his lead. Mostly, I simply love the joy and laughter during meeting.
After group meeting the boys just really wanted to open the sand table so we did. The calm energy, intense focus, and pleasant interactions between the children during our time alone together was refreshing and invigorating! Four boys in that small of an area all working with the same materials could have been tricky but the boys managed the space with surprising grace.
THE FUTURE and THE PAST
Hope (7 months) Max (8 months)
Hope, Max's little sister, is now 7 months old. The same age all the now two and a half year olds were when they started Materials Playgroup. It seems like yesterday but also so long ago. Seeing her interact with the materials the children also explore brings back such amazing memories and so we continue excitedly into 2010 with new adventures awaiting us!
