The children in School Age 2 continue to show an interest in creative activities. This has been done through building with boxes, making comic books, origami, drawing, and utilizing a variety of loose parts. This time the children were provided an opportunity to explore with rocks, sticks, shells, a small wooden platform and a glue gun. This activity was about the process not the product. The children were able to use these items in whichever way they chose.
Cohen decided that he wanted to make a wall. He stated he had used a glue gun before and was very confident in using it himself as he attached the rocks one by one to his wooden board. Autumn and Spencer decided to make people out of the loose parts they used. “This is my mom at the beach” Spencer said proudly. “These kind of look like an inuksuk.” Tracey stated. “Hey I have seen those before!” one of the children shouted. “They are made out of wayyy bigger rocks Tracey!” Emerson stated.
Mariana and Cohen both found small shells with letters on them. “I want to glue my name on here!” Mariana said. They both looked for the letters of their name, when they could not find a matching one they used the sharpie marker to write the corresponding letters to their name. While doing this they also had to find the right size of shells that would fit the length of their creations.
Using the glue gun enabled to the children to learn how to use a new tool and take appropriate precautions. Self-expression came out as they planned how they wanted to make their own creations that were different from their peers. Language and literacy were fostered as they spelled their names with the shells. Fine motor skills had to be used to carefully place each small rock intricately.
The children will continue to be offered a variety of materials to continue mastering their creativity skills. Perhaps in the future we can work on a large group project that will encourage all children in the program to participate.
