Wonder Arts: 9am Watercolor wash, Glue/Sand, Shadow Play

The Hundred Languages of Children!!!

My classes are strongly based on my interpretation of the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. These schools were founded by a group of parents who saw their children as competent, creative, and powerful. Teachers, who are inspired by the schools of Reggio Emilia, understand that teaching is not the filling up of children with facts and information from adults, but instead the lighting of a fire. A Reggio-Inspired teacher listens to children and believes that children have so much to teach us! What do I mean by listening? To be totally present and open to seeing, hearing, and feeling what children are doing and thinking.

My goal for my Wonder Arts classes is to help children and parents in discovering their child's 100 languages.

In "The Spirit of the Studio" by Gandini, Hill, Cadwell, Schwall, Giovanni Piazza states the following:

"A first encounter for children with materials to explore and act on is a necessary step in the children's process of knowing. Through these encounters, children build an awareness of what can happen with materials, and adults build the ability to observe and support the significance of each particular experience."

"Languages" such as paint, paper, blocks, wire, clay, oil pastels, etc... are introduced to children in the form of creating an alphabet for the child.

"It is essential for children to acquire knowledge of materials, gain competence with them, and use them in a variety of ways."

And the importance of the development of the 100 languages is for these multiple forms of materials to become a "conduit for expression that communicates the child's thoughts and feelings."

So... our exploration of the 100 languages, in today's class, began with oil pastels. I was pleased to see that the children (after repeated experiences with this medium) took their time, explored many different colors, lots of circles (scribbles), lines, dots, and even rolling the oil pastel back and forth.

As their interest with the oil pastels began to wain... we introduced the blue watercolor to use as a wash over the oil pastels. Many of the children seemed interested in the way the oil pastel resisted the watercolor. The oil pastel also seemed to brighten as the watercolor was added.
Great to see some experimentation with painting directly over top of the oil pastel as well as using the watercolor in an area of the paper where no oil pastel was drawn.









Before, we venture into the language of collage, we deconstruct the experience by providing glue on it's own. This allows the children to explore the medium, how it differs from paint, how it smells, looks, feels, etc... Having the glue at one table allows the children to observe their peers, so even if they are hesitant, it can feel safer in numbers. Sticks are offered for those children who need a safe alternative to directly touching it themselves. Later the sand was offered so the children can explore how the glue causes things to be "sticky". The final step is observing the dried mural to see how time causes glue to transform or even "disappear".

Using an overhead projector on the floor offers endless possibilities for investigating light and shadow. Adults nearby offer gentle guidance about caring for this new material. Not only did the toddlers treat the projector with respect, they were able to wonder and enjoy the "magicness" of the experience!

Many of the children investigate touching the objects that are projected onto the wall. They understand how it feels in their hand and discover the difference when it is just a "picture" on the wall.
It's also interesting to see what happens when you take an object and hold it up to the sheet and wonder at why it doesn't project the same as when it is on the projector itself.

The joy in discovering something new and the wonder at how can this be?