Friday Group - Drawing with Beeswax Crayons

After returning from a four week break I decided to introduce drawing with Stockmar beeswax crayons to get everyone reacquainted with the environment. I prefer these crayons because they are very responsive to children's movements so even the slightest pressure on paper creates a mark. I presented the children (just Kaia & Sebastien during this session) with both traditional shaped crayons (minus the paper wrapping) and rectangular block crayons. Both variations allow children to find many different ways to make a mark. From the ages 6-12 months most children explore crayons/writing utensils orally. At this oral stage of exploration, I like to simply point out when the children make a mark on the paper thus drawing their attention to what the material's purpose and how they influence it.

Since the group is becoming more mobile I also included a sensory bin (clear storage bin) full of fabric, ribbon and containers. Knowing Sebastien and Kaia both are really interested in doing laundry (basically taking clothes in and out of the laundry bin or drawers) I thought this would be very engaging.

Friday Group - Painting with Blue

Sebastien was again the first to dive into the painting. He tried again to get that paint brush into to the container but first he finds a new way to get the tempera cake in his mouth buy only after he figures out how to get it out of the container.

Theo again found the paint on another child's face extremely interesting and tries to engage Sebastien who is only mildly amused by Theo's attempts.





Bryce manages to open the spray bottled used to wet the tempera cakes and creates a mini lake to splash in.





That blue puddle was attractive and drew Isa in for a closer look.





Where's Kaia? Kaia chose not to paint on this particular day. She liked hanging out on the bed that appeared in our living room where she practiced her free standing and snuggled with her mama!

Paint Brush Montage

The children are still trying to decide if they like the paint brush!

Thursday Group - Painting with Red

We returned to painting and Sebastien couldn't have been more excited about it. Max and Zadie are still warming up to the material. This was the first time that Sebastien made a purposeful attempt to use the brush to get paint and then proceeded to try and paint on the canvas.

Max really wanted the tempera cake out of the container and kept dropping the container on the ground to get it to pop out. When it first made a loud bang Max leaned in really close to see if the cake was still in the container. This was a clever way of trying to get the cake out without having to get paint on his hands. Although when he drops it on his mom's lap he does put his fingers in it before he picked it up and lets if fall yet again.






Zadie was particularly drawn to the liquid red paint that came from wetting the tempera cakes with water. A drop of red paint initially drew her close to the paint. Then when she picked up the paint container, she noticed the red paint that dribbled out. While she explored the container the tempera cake fell and rolled out. Once this occurred she decided to give it a taste. In Zadie's signature style she explore every part of the painting experience. No item was left untouched!