Clay in the early years art programme

Clay gives young children opportunities to develop a set of valuable visual art skills. Also, it connects children to a natural resource that has been used by people around the world for thousands of years for art creation. This unique art medium reflects our respect for the nature. Clay is able to be reused and clay works can be recycled, which is an important benefit of using clay in the early childhood art programme. Using clay promotes greater awareness of environmental issues and sustainability.

The simplest of physical actions: squeezing, patting, poking, rolling, coiling, or piling it up - produces an immediate and satisfying change to the shape and form of a piece of clay. While the children are exploring the possibilities of clay as a medium of artistic expression, they are learning how clay behave and how they can use it to make their idea visible. It involves problem solving.

Younger children, particularly, seem to enjoy using clay and are delighted in its sensory and tactile qualities. They are quite bold in tackling wet and damp clay. While younger children tend to create abstract works, the older ones aim to be representational in their creation.

The teacher may want to bring out clay regularly. With practice, children will develop more sophisticated skills and be able to add complexity to their creations. Just give plenty of time for children to figure things out by themselves.

While it's important to let children explore and make discoveries, teachers' support is important too. Click this link for more.

Nurturing Creativity

My kindergarten is planning to hold an art exhibition to showcase children's art work. I feel very excited of the opportunity to work closely with children in art. It has been a myth that only some talented people are born with creativity, but actually creativity can be nurtured. While children need time, space and materials to explore and master art, 'expert input' is equally important. 'Expert input' could mean learning a new skill, looking at other artists' work, seeking feedback and so on. Even professional and semi-professional artists visit art galleries to find inspiration.

I decided to create clay sculpture with children for the exhibition. For sure, I have taken some risks. In five weeks time,  our children have to work very hard to pick up the necessary skills to manipulate clay to create what they have in mind. Initially, I encourage them to make the Maori wake, a kind of canoe used by the indigenous people of New Zealand. it will be manageable as young children will find it easier to poke and push into the clay than joining pieces of clay together. It also provide an opportunity to use various tools and see what effect each tool is able to achieve.

A week after making clay waka, something interesting happened. One child specifically asked to make a dinosaur. As I was not busy, so I sat with the boy and demonstrated all necessary skills to him. It amazed me that he was able to make a dinosaur that looks really good. Other teachers are equally amazed, as they recalled that his previous clay work used to look like lumps of clay. With a teacher sitting with a child, demonstrating, giving advice and feedback,  the child feels empowered. Most important of all, the mother has 'discovered' the creative side of the boy. (he is so proud of himself that he let his mum have a preview of his art work before the exhibition!)

Yes, creativity can be nurtured. I'll talk more about it, in the leading up to the art exhibition.

inspiration from the local artists

The head teacher of my kindy suggested researching on our local artists and then working on a similar style or technique with children. I looked through the internet and picked Carol Smith from west Auckland. Her work is mostly abstract painting of landscape, capturing the mood of various times of the day and expressing her feelings. She specializes in layering acrylic paint on canvas, which I think is quite suitable for young children to achieve.

My approach was to introduce the idea of painting from observation. I believe in a child-centred approach for art, so I let children study a few painting of Carol, featuring the blue sky in different tones. I let them involved in mixing different tones of blue with white paint and black paint. I drew their attention to the color as well as the direction of the strokes. Young children tend to move their brush up and down, like a painter painting a house. So, I pointed out how Carol used horizontal lines in her work. Finally, I put out brushes of different thickness. Naturally, children experimented with all of them. Through hands-on involvement, they learnt to vary the thickness of the lines, achieving a variety of effects.

The painting they completed looks very interesting. I call it seven shades of blue, naming after the seven different tones we had created and mixed together. Hopefully, through this painting experience, the children develop the ability to use color with growing confidence. I noticed that they are also developing a sense of movement and direction of lines, as a couple of children kept reminding others to move the brush from side to side, not up and down.

A bonus of this painting experience is supporting social competence, as I used a big canvas and children had to work cooperatively, trying to work alongside each other without getting in each other's way. A worthy art experience!