MIXING PAINTS – SENSORY PLAY

"Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood, for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child's soul."  (Friedrich Froebel)

Sensory play has several benefits for children; cognitive skills are sharpened by sensory play, these being problem solving and decision making. It also encourages children to use descriptive and expressive language as well as finding meanings behind words. By giving children the opportunity to investigate materials with no preconceived knowledge, you are helping them develop and refine their cognitive, social and emotional, physical, creative and linguistic skillsets (Steinberg, n.d.).

As part of good practice to extend upon children's learning, we were asked to create an activity to help further expand upon knowledge. The activity involved children mixing different colours of paint to discover new ones. Children learn through taking in information through their senses. However, the actual learning ultimately comes from ‘doing’. First, they watch and listen to others, then they try doing things on their own. This sparks their interest and generates their motivation to self-discover (Conner, 2007). This was shown clearly in our activity; as each child was doing the activity. While some children were mixing paints, others observed them and wanted to participate themselves. They were all interested in mixing the different paints to see what the outcome would be.

The activity:
Our activity came from an idea expressed by a child at Mez's work place. Using the continuous provision, one of the children remarked how different colours could be discovered when combining colours. The activity meant that each child was able to choose two colours, guess what colour it was going to make then mix them together and paint them onto paper to see if they were right and see what colour was made. We found that a benefit of this activity was that we could adapt it to fit each child’s needs and preference; while most of the children were painting the two colours onto their hands and printing hand prints onto paper, one young boy did not want to get any paint on him at all and refused to paint his hands. This led to him still being able to pick two colours, guess what colour they would make then mix them in a plastic cup with a paint brush and paint with the brush onto a piece of paper rather than having to get his hands dirty. It is important that activities involving sensory play can be adapted for every child so that they can all still take part and get involved.

Displays of children’s work 
(To document their development and give them a sense of achievement and pride)

The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (Department for Education, 2014) states that children display characteristics of learning through ways such as playing and learning; all the children seemed willing to try our activity and it was not compulsory. Active learning also took place as the children were responding and listening to the members of staff involved in the activity, while responding to the end result which was fuelled by the colour that was made. Each child had their own way of doing the activity; choosing their own colours, deciding whether they wanted the paint on their hands or on a brush or glue stick. This meant they were being creative and using critical thinking.

Documentation and Reflection:

To document the activity we used a planned activity sheet showing rationale, a description, and what is hoped to be gained from doing the activity. There is space to reflect on the activity and suggest how it could be extended upon at another time. In addition, photos were taken throughout the activity. The observation sheets as well as the pictures were added to the children's learning journey.

Planned activity sheet

References

Department for Education, 2014. Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/335504/EYFS_framework_from_1_September_2014__with_clarification_note.pdf.  [Accessed 08 December 2015].

Conner, M. L., 2007. Learning from Experience: Ageless Learner. [online] Available at: http://agelesslearner.com/intros/experiential.html [Accessed 08 December 2015].

Steinberg, D., n.d. Developing and Cultivating Skills Through Sensory Play [online] Available at: http://www.pbs.org/parents/child-development/sensory-play/developing-and-cultivating-skills-through-sensory-play/ [Accessed 08 December 2015].

Student ID’s

Karin Holzner - 1526936

Mez Ridgon - 1414184

Stevie Butcher - 1430950