Creative Painting At Crawford Childcare
Painting is an important part of the curriculum in all 3 rooms in Crawford Childcare. Painting offers many learning opportunities including sensorial play, creativity, mark making, recording information, communication, literacy and numeracy skills.
Brushes and paints are popular of course. The team at Crawford Childcare also like to introduce more creative painting ideas to the children in each room. We thought we would share a few in this week’s blog so that the more adventurous amongst you can try them too. Just remember to dress the children (and yourself) in clothes you are not too worried about. It is also a good idea to have a complete change of clothes, warm water and towels at the ready too. Leave us know if you try out any of the techniques at home and let us know which ones your child enjoys the most. We would love to see any resulting masterpieces!
Aboriginal Art:
Aboriginal art from Australia is made up of a series of dots to make colourful pictures. In Crawford we use cotton buds dipped in paint to create a similar effect. The cotton bud is dabbed on the page or painting surface. Our children often add swirls and lines to their pictures too. The pincer grip required to hold the cotton bud makes this painting technique helpful for a child’s developing fine motor skills and pre-writing skills.
Fruit and Vegetable Printing:
This technique involves cutting fruit and vegetables which are loaded with paint and used as printing stamps. The effect is better if you chop the fruit/vegetables a day or so before the actual activity as the drier fruit/ vegetable gives a more distinct print. Try cutting the fruit and vegetables in different directions – lengthwise/ sideways. Be sure the resulting surface is flat though. See if you can find the star in an apple. Peppers cut widthways give a really interesting print!
Spin Art: This is a recent addition to our curriculum which can produce a kaleidoscope of colours. Load the flat side of a paper plate with separate blobs of different coloured paint. Place the plate on a page and gently swirl! Check out the notice board to see the toddler’s examples of spin art.
String Painting:
Paint pieces of string and trail them across a page. Or alternatively lay flat on a page and paint over then lift the string to leave trails in the paint.
Bubble wrap printing:
Younger children especially enjoy painting large sheets of bubble wrap which are usually taped to the floor or table tops to stop them slipping. A page can be laid on this and lifted to reveal a wonderful print. These can be great for the older children to use as a background for a project such as a sea scape as well as being a great piece of art in themselves.
Bubble painting:
Food colouring can be added to a soapy bubble mixture in a cup. The contents are then blown into using a straw either by the children or adult depending on the child’s development stage. The bubbles are left to spill out over the cup – a bit like a magic potion. A page is placed on the coloured bubbles to make coloured prints.
Other techniques include textured painting, blow art, colour washing, using hands and feet, splatter art, water bomb art, flick art, comb painting, blob art and more. Let us know how you get on with the ones described so far. We can always revisit this topic in a future blog for more details on the ones just listed! Have fun getting creative with paint. Please share any ways you use paint too!
We are holding a Childline breakfast day on Wednesday 9th October 2013 in our creche in Glanmire, Co. Cork. All the staff and children are invited to dress in their PJs to show their support. Of course parents can wear them too! We have lots of fun and games planned – we will give you a full run down in next week’s blog!