We love to offer art experiences for the children in our nursery. It provides a range of rich learning opportunities where we can look at colour, line, texture, temperature and elements of combining different mediums.
It is a collaborative and explorative process, where the focus is on the journey, not on an end product.
Art for young children is a very tactile and sensory experience. They are making meaning of the world around them through discovery, cause-and-effect experimentation and problem-solving. Their art is their work and they are busy as they learn. They are entirely present in the moment and are focusing on a range of sensory input as they make connections between their experience and their previous observations.
They are hypothesising and categorising. They are developing understandings of how interactions with different mediums can feel to the touch and how that can effect how they feel emotionally. Their play can look messy and unstructured, but we don’t see that. We see engaged learners, actively directing their own understandings in a way that has real meaning for their lives and interests.
Nursery – messy painting with hands