Thursday Group - Painting with Blue

This week marks the return of the Thursday Group to Painting. Zadie and Xavier were the first to dive into the painting. Watch as Xavier knows exactly what to do with the brush and involves Zadie in his exploration.

The children are all actively taking more notice of the paint. Observing, how it feels on their bodies, how it looks on each other's bodies, on the canvas, and on the plastic tarp.

Sebastien makes an interesting discovery. He comes to the painting a little later than the rest as he was finishing up his nap and he finds the materials have already been in use. He notices a round blue spot on the plastic tarp and tries to grab it, thinking it is a tempera cake. He then locates an actual tempera cake in a container. After feeling it, he returns to feel the spot on the plastic tarp. He finally decides which is the real thing. It doesn't take him long but it amazes me how little brains figure out the world.

MUSICAL MAX

One thing I know about Max is that he can make sound with any item. He will find the ball that makes a loud boom or the pot that makes a great ting on the wood floor. In Max's previous painting experiences I always thought that when he picked up the container holding the tempera cake and dropped it on the floor, he was trying to get it out of the container. Amy, his mom, said something during group that made me rethink this idea. I don't remember her exact words but what I interpreted was that Max explores many materials through sound. Could throwing down the containers be Max's attempt to discover through his hearing? The following are two pictures remind me that touch and taste are not the only senses at work while painting.

Max attempts to bang the tempera cake against the shelf but couldn't get the right angle (his fingers were in the way).

So instead he bangs the tempera cake with the ball. Now this made a sound.

Friday Group - Back to Painting

We've returned to painting. I was excited to continue painting and see how the children would experience being reintroduced to the material. Kaia engaged with the paint for the longest period of time yet. In her previous experiences she would usually taste the paint, not like it, and then make her way into her mother's lap where she would stay until she moved on from painting. This time she really wanted to share the experience with her mother, offering her the cup and the tempera cake.

This is a big step for Kaia and her mom too, as Kasey doesn't really like personally getting messy but really wants Kaia to enjoy painting.

Sebastien and Bryce explored the paint as they had in the past, discovering the cup, the tempera cake, the brush, and the colored water that would drip out. You'll see in the following video clip Bryce exploring the different components of the experience and also, most interestingly, observing Sebastien with such intensity that you can't help be in awe of children's capacity to learn from one another.

The last time Sebastien painted he was trying to put the brush in the container and then on the canvas, which he observes me do when I first place the cups of paint on the canvas. This time he spent much of his time trying it again. He's really trying to connect getting paint on the brush and then on the canvas. You can see in the video, at one point he picks up an empty cup and gets paint on it. The puzzle pieces of painting are starting to fall into place for him.

Friday Group - More drawing and the Bin of Balls

Four children, four different ways of exploring drawing and crayons.

Kaia and Sebastien explore the sensory bin full of balls. Kaia carefully inspects the different types of balls while exhuberant Sebastien gets right in the midst of it all. It's so interesting that even with all of Sebastien's movement and excitement it doesn't deter Kaia from her exploration.

The challenge the containers add to the sensory bin allow the children to set the pace of their exploration. They can just explore the balls (which can take awhile with all the different varieties) or be tempted to try to pull out or put in a ball.

Bryce finds the different balls feel really good on his teeth (well almost all the balls).

Theo works on getting a ball out.

I couldn't resist, it's the illusive boat. Theo really wants to crawl inside. He certainly commands the attention of the other children.

Thursday Group - Drawing and the Bin of Balls

It's been amazing to watch the children really explore the environment and make new discoveries. This week I again offered the beeswax crayons and changed up the sensory bin by placing many different types of balls in to explore. What I am finding most satisfying is the children are choosing to be closer together as they explore and are beginning to interact more with one another. At one point Sebastien, Zadie, and Xavier were all "hiding" behind the peek-a-boo curtain having a great time together (Max just couldn't tear himself away from the sensory bin!). Here's a brief snippet of their joyous encounter.

There are so many discoveries that the children are making that it is hard to keep up. Max explored every ball and container with such depth and careful inspection.

He even discovered that the wooden balls made a very gratifying sound on the floor.

Every child at some point during the group session made his or her way over to the drawing area. Sebastien has been observing Xavier's writing skills because this was the first time he held and made purposeful marks with the crayons.

Xavier practiced his drawing motion and not just with the crayons.

Adding containers to the ball sensory bin gives the experience another dimension to explore. Watch as Sebastien fills and then dumps a container while Zadie deals with a wooden ball which isn't so easy to pick up.

Later Zadie tries to extract a ball from a container.

In the spirit of togetherness I had to include this last video. The "boat" is of particular interest to a few of the children. Sebastien especially likes it when others want to join him in or around the boat. As Xavier explores the boat and has a lot to tell everyone about it, Sebastien's excitement is uncontainable. He's just not quite sure what to do with himself.