Ways to make your painting activity inviting
To stimulate young children’s minds and to keep them engaged, activities need to be inviting and stimulating. Children are more likely to approach an activity if they are drawn into it, using their inquisitive minds. When thinking about presenting an activity think about how this may look to the child and ask yourself would you want to join in. There are so many different ways of using different recourses to make activities look inviting.
Ideas of how to make that painting experience inviting;
Using the floor
Using a large floor space is great for children to freely move around exploring the activity in their own time. It allows more children to join in the activity as well as more adults. As adults can see more of the activity this may give them more detail in an observation. Don’t be afraid to offer large-scale painting activities and invite other children from other rooms to come along and join in, creating a more social occasion. Large tuff spots are great to put on the floor and fill with paint and let the children get creative. Or why not put large sheets of paper down on the floor and squirt paint over the paint. Then cover with a plastic sheet and let the children enjoy a sensory painting experience.
Using a Table
When presenting painting activities on a table these should be inviting and increase curiosity. Instead of using paper why not think of other resources eg tin foil, bubble wrap, sandpaper, these will all create some fantastic painting experiences. Children need to be given different opportunities to keep their brains stimulated; varying the ways you present activities to children will provide children with different learning opportunities. Sometimes having less on the table can attract children as they are able to see what is on offer again drawing in their attention. If they see blobs of bright fingers paint positioned on the tables this will grab children’s attention rather than guess what is inside the paint pots.
Using a Tuff spot with stand
This resource is great as you can in move it around the room and children can group around it, exploring the activity together. Why not add shaving foam to the tray and then add a tray of paint and let the children paint the shaving foam, or beforehand mix the shaving foam with some paint in a pot and then place the pots in the tuff tray fur children to make marks with. The opportunities are endless with regards to what to place in the tuff spot here are few ideas for different painting activities
- Roller ball painting
- Ice cube painting
- Using animals to do printing with or cars
- Balloon painting
- Using different size paint brushes and rollers
Practitioner’s role in making a painting activity inviting
It is practitioner’s responsibility to ensuring activities offered and planned are inviting and stimulating, the purpose of each activity should be about helping children learn new skills and build on those already learnt. Children will look to adults for that praise and recognition; therefore, adults need to be effective role models as well as modelling best practice. Working together as a team to plan exciting and stimulating activities can lead to positivity within the team, as well as giving practitioners equal opportunities to share their ideas.
Barriers to overcome
There can be barriers that some adults have to overcome when it comes to presenting activities to children. Confidence is a main contributing factors, for those adults who have very little confidence in themselves it can sometimes be evident in their job. It is down to leaders and managers to support these practitioners and help build their self-esteem, leading to them feeling positive about themselves.
Children will spend a considerable amount of time if they are attracted and stimulated by the activity, this in term will help develop new skills. When you are next offering a painting activity think about how you are presenting this and ask yourself the question again would you like to participate in this.