ART: fingerpaint

This year, I wanted to do something different.  It's called ART.  As a preschool teacher it's easy to use pre-made templates, crafty designs, and cute projects that their parents would really like.  My training in Early Childhood Education taught all about the process and how important each experience is for children.  (This is why play is so important.)  Children need the time to develop, discover, investigate, explore, etc.  For the past few years, I have researched what this concept would mean, not only for my environment and each area of my classroom, but especially for ART.  I was inspired by the Reggio Approach to teaching where there is so much RICH exploration and purpose for everything that they do.  As teachers we are constantly evaluating and reflecting on what we can do better, and this year my focus is on ART.  I mean REAL ART!  not just making something cute, but purposeful.  

This week we explored fingerpaint.  Most had never even touched paint, let alone played in it!  I started our art process with fingerpaint because I wanted them to explore colors mixing together, the texture of paint, the smell, and movement, as children run their fingers, the palms and backs of their hands, their arms and elbows across the slick paper.  I invited the children to pick 2 colors of fingerpaint to begin their exploration. During this time, I wanted to emphasize the process and the sensory experiences with color and texture, rather than emphasizing a finished product.  These pictures certainly tell that beautiful story!