Water Lilies Under A Japanese Bridge for Preschool

Pure joy!  

​That is what a month of art study with Mother Goose Time's #artcamp has done for my littles.

We have not missed a day to paint.  We have not missed an opportunity to immerse in colors, with hands, brushes, and found materials. 

Look at that face.  Is there any more proof needed that daily art must be a part of any great curriculum?  I think that smile says it all!!

When joy is the result does the reason really matter?

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Water Lilies Under A Japanese Bridge

LOOK AT THESE!!!

Have you EVER seen anything more amazing??  These were painted by children ages 1-5 years!!  (Breathe, breathe, breathe...the readers may not understand that you get hyper about art!)

We began with variations of blue; light blue, dark blue, and aquamarine, and the children and I observed and discussed those differences in light and dark.  We added greens to our paint palettes as we carefully looked at the original artists work.

​Our preschool curriculum partner, Mother Goose Time,created a masterpiece (oh yes, pun intended!!) with July's thematic Art Camp unit.

These were painted over the course of  three days because the children kept begging, "Can we paint 'Water Lilies' again, Ms. Donna?" "PAAAAAALEASE?"  

​Drop the mic.  We are done here...they asked to paint it by NAME!!!

So,,,a couple of things that just get me all giddy about that.  

First, they REMEMBERED the name of the painting!!  

Second, they had a genuine desire to create it again and again and again.  I imagine that is what Claude Monet himself felt as he painted "Water Lilies" 250 times over the course of 30 years.  (cool fact :))

But why bother?  Why not just let them paint?  Do they really need to know who painted what and what the painting really is???

YES!!!  It is vital to the development of young minds to expose them to all forms of art.  It gives them confidence in their own abilities to create and creativity is at the core of who we are as human beings. 

“Exposing children ... to art is absolutely essential in the development of their sense of self,” Amanda Selwyn, Director of Community Arts at the West Side Y, explained to HuffPost. “As well as observation skills, a sense of creative self-expression, self-confidence, collaboration, physical movement and vocal skills." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/16/kids-talking-about-art_n_5806614.html

The cutest little artists around!

It was interesting to watch them work.  Those that were older liked order and sequence to their paintings.  They took liberties, like painting the bridge and this little artist even added people to her bridge!

See that one on the bottom right?  See the little people?  She has taken the original artists work one step further and added people enjoying the view of the water lilies from the bridge.  I love all the unique views from the original painting.  I can see how their little minds work, the stages of emergent writing they are in, and their level of interest.  

It is also amazing that all our artists from the oldest (6) to the youngest (1) observed and recreated the foliage at the top (green) and the water at the bottom (blue).  

But notice the bottom right....it depicts a more 3d scene of water that goes under the bridge and keeps flowing past the bridge with the land masses at either side.  This artist has understood the depiction of the art to real life settings.  

Just give it time...

As educators, parents and caregivers, we must give children time.  Time is the greatest gift you can give any child.  

They must have the time to create, to think, to make sense of what the world is and their place in it.  When we do this, we give them the freedom to form opinions, test those and interpret results.  It is amazing to observe.  Stepping back and watching will give us insight.  From that insight, we can effectively teach what THEY need to learn.  This will be different for each child and that is where the job of teaching becomes real.

​Exposing young, even very young, children to great works of art gives us the opportunity to observe their interpretation.  We get to see the art with the freshness of a child.  

Encouraging them to recreate it gives us a window to how they view the world around them.  

Giving them the time and materials to create art again and again without imposing our ideas and agendas and without trying to move them along gives them the freedom to express their thoughts, stories, and emotions and create their own masterpiece.  From this conversations about how they feel, what they believe, and how they see things will enlighten our understanding about who they are and individuals.

Isn't this the true meaning of art?  Self-expression...

​As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today! - L