Chalk Painting

We often have chalks out in the garden, I will draw out a road for the cars and extend it to include fields for our farm animals, or a zoo area too...sometimes even the Dinosaurs come join in!!

Today I got out the chalks, but added some water and black card. My idea was to do some mark making, perhaps finger painting too. But let see where the children took it!

 'J' began with some mark making following my example but he chose to draw straight on the patio as he has done previously.

 After a bit of drawing 'J' decided instead to do some transferring and poring of the coloured water and chalks

All together in one pot!

 So far 'S' had been sat back watching our play, but at this point she decided to come over and have a go herself! She tried some mark making first, seeming to connect her movements with the marks left on the patio

 Next 'S' tried combining her paint brush with the chalks. Perhaps this was exploring combining objects in a variety of ways; poking, stirring etc. Or perhaps she was transferring her knowledge of other painting experiences to what she had available to her today?

'J' came over to have a little look at the different colours and they had a little babbling chat between them, I do love their little interactions!

 'S' went back to her mark making, trying some different colours and looking closely at her work on the floor

When she was done 'S' spotted the little ride on toy which she then spent some time pushing back and forth through the 'paint' on the floor. Unintentionally making some great track marks and foot prints on some of the black paper which had previously been discarded for use in our arty activity.

Characteristics of Effective Learning

'S' made links from her previous experience and transferred her knowledge to this activity. Testing her theories (trying to use a paint brush) and then moving on to different approaches.

'S' began by observing 'J' and I to see our approach. She was keen to engage with 'J' when he came over, looking and babbling with each other to share the experience. I had begun with an idea for the activity but was keen to follow the children's ideas. 'S' knew she had plenty of time to explore the material at her own pace, pausing to interact with 'J' at his initiation, before then returning to what she was previously doing. I took their cue's when they were done and ready to move on.

Next Steps

Spend some more time mark making to ascertain if 'S' has an established knowledge connecting her movements with the marks she leaves.

Introduce some cars, balls, marbles etc with painting to roll through and see the different marks they leave