Wax resist whale shark pictures

We started read the book 'Surprising Sharks' this week with the children and surprising it definitely is!! Did you know sharks only kill around 6 people a year but that we kill 100 million sharks each year? Sobering thought! Anyway, we then decided to draw pictures of sharks and one of the options was to use candles to draw with to create wax resist pictures. It turned out that the candles were too hard to work with for most of the children (because you had to press so hard to make it work) but they had good fun trying and it was a great exercise for those finger muscles. In the end, we gave them silver crayons and then went over their lines with a candle before they put on the ink. I love the fact that each picture is unique, focussing on the aspects that each child saw as most prominent. Some focussed on the spots on the whale sharks whilst others thought the pointy fins were more important and naturally there was one who just enjoyed the sensation of the crayon on the paper.... :-D

I left the same materials out this afternoon with complete freedom and was really impressed with the seahorses, crabs and starfish that were presented to me at the end of the afternoon. I think it is really important to offer materials that have been used for teaching independently again later - the best experimenting and discussions always seem to occur!!

Drawing the whale shark

Using black and blue watered down inks to colour.

Et voila!

Huff and Puff pictures - The Three Little Pigs!!!

Recently, we looked at the story of The Three Little Pigs. We had heard lots of conversations about the wolf huffing and puffing (and seen it in the children’s play) so we set up a station where the children could make their own ‘Huff and Puff’ pictures. It went down a treat and some children several up to 40 minutes dropping watered down ink onto the paper and blowing it like the wolf :-) It is so nice to see children so highly engaged and the conversations about mixing colours that took place were a treat to hear! 

Spray painting…

Great fun (and fab for strengthening hand/finger muscles :-) ) but think we will be finding paint splattered items for a long time to come lol! All but two of my children chose to come and have a go throughout the day and every picture is different. One child deliberately placed her 3 sprays (each one in a different colour) whilst another sprayed until there was not a speck of white left on the paper :-) 

Painting with marbles :-)

Great, messy fun!!! Actually these worked out really well and the children had great fun chasing the marbles around the page….and on the floor…think I would do it outside next time lol!!! We had been to an art museum with the children a few months previously and had a go at using a giant frame with foam balls - that was fantastic fun but I haven’t yet managed to make a frame that big yet!

Self portraits

Most children love to paint and draw and they begin to draw themselves and each other from an early age. By putting out mirrors, photos and using transparent painting frames, the children become more aware of form, position and composition in a natural way, exploring for themselves what people look like and how to get particular effects. It never ceases to amaze me what beautiful portraits and pictures our children are able to produce when given time, space and resources to have a go without any pressure of having to achieve.