The School-age 1program has started off the new year by getting creative in lots of ways. One way we got creative was by making Invisible Ink and then exposing our pictures with water colour paint. Camden was so excited to start drawing. "I’m drawing a giraffe" he whispered to Educator Natalie. "Look at my snake in the sky with my family," Caleb said to Camden as he was painting his picture. Another way the JKK's got creative was by doing some Ice Painting. We mixed paint and water and then stuck the mixtures in the freezer for 2 days. When we pulled it out of the freezer, Sophia said "Wow it's really cold!" "It's just like outside," Aubree said. "Good thing we put the popsicle sticks in so it doesn't freeze our hands," Skylar said as we carried them back to the classroom. Once everyone got started on their art, one of our friends noticed that it was a bit hard to paint with. Other friends also noticed that as the ice paint melted a little bit, they were getting more colour which made it easier to move around the paper.
During these activities the children fostered their social and communication skills as they were working in small groups and communicating with their peers about what they were creating. They also fostered their cognitive skills as some of our friends were creating a picture of what they see in everyday life and showing us how they see it from their eyes. Another way we fostered their cognitive skills was by encouraging the children to write their own name on their own piece of paper so that way they can work on the spelling of each of their names. These activities also fostered their fine motor skills as the children held the popsicle sticks as well as the paint brushes.
To continue to encourage teamwork, being open to suggestions and ideas, we could explore with other various items and continue on building these creations using different materials.
Educators Nicole and Natalie asked the children, "what are some ways we can add more creativity to our program?" Some of our friends said more painting and some said more gluing. We even had some friends express that they would like to do art outside. How does your family get creative during these cold months?
