Easel painting is an experience that we offer to our children every day and all year round. At the beginning of each year, our easel area tends to be a hive of activity as the children explore and experiment with what this medium can do.
You may have noticed that we have suspended with the traditional ‘A’ frame easels. The reason for this was two fold: firstly, the bulky nature of these easels meant that they took up valuable room space and seemed to always be ‘in the way’, and secondly, the nature of the easel set up meant that the children were unable to see each other and the work of their friends, so the activity tended to be of a solitary nature. Not that this is a bad thing, and certainly has it’s place and benefits, but we wanted to offer the opportunity for a more shared and collaborative experience. Our children can be overheard conversing about their work: sometimes offering advice, sometimes positive feedback and encouragement, sometimes collaboratively creating stories or a series of events, sometimes singing, sometimes laughing… but always having fun and learning from each other!
To keep the children interested, we like to progressively add different materials and media.
Black marker pens are always popular and allow the children to add finer details and definition to their work.
Edicol paint works well with black marker pens due to it’s transparent nature.
Then of course you can add some glitter (cell mix and glitter) and some cellophane to support the transparent concept.
And then, maybe some rollers for painting, stamps and black markers.
And then, maybe vary the brush sizes and add some collage materials.
And of course change the background paper colour.
The opportunities are endless!
But the most rewarding experience, when the children start to bring their own ideas and contributions to the easel area.
Hi Karen. Thanks for stopping by my blog and following me. I so much enjoyed reading about your painting easil area and your thoughts and beliefs about how children learn. I agree with a lot of your points and your an awesome teacher.
I hope you have a great new year 2011 and can't wait for more of your postings. Thanks so much for your wonderful blog and your beautiful photos you share. Really like the square collages. Are they from material? Have a great day! Lisa
My HomeMade Montessori Manipulatives
Thanks Lisa for your lovely words! I am glad you enjoyed this post. I am loving this new (for me!) blogging medium. I am learning and gaining so much inspiration from reading about the work of teachers from all over the world… just amazing! I am really impressed with your homemade activities… preschool resources can be so expensive to purchase! We have what we call '2 Dollar' shops here that we often search for interesting 'bits n bobs' to make-up our own activities… but I must say, you seem to really have the knack of seeing the potential in such finds! Keep up the good work Lisa you are certainly an inspiration to me! 🙂
Great post. Very inspiring. I really enjoyed it. It is very helpful. The concept is there and has a complete details. Thanks for sharing.