Guest Posted October 31, 2008 Posted October 31, 2008 Hi Some of the displays at school are excellent really displaying all the children's work and creativity. However some members of staff give children cut outs of people with all the features photocopied on or put out photocopied pictures for children to paint and then display them on the wall. What I suggest to my colleagues is to give the children a shape eg a fish with nothing else on it and allow them to use their imagination and a range of resources to create a collage or paint freely and express what they have made. In this way the work is developed by the children what do you think am I asking something that is unreasonable???? looking forward to hearing from you
Andreamay Posted October 31, 2008 Posted October 31, 2008 First of all welcome to the forum raz I personally dont even think cut outs of any shape for them to fill in are using the child's imagination!! But i know what you mean it is tricky when others views are different. what I have managed to achieve is to have a mixture. Also if it is the childrens OWN work and isnt always evident from looking at it a clear display eg Andrea's fish or a photgraph/poster of fish usually does the trick! Photos of the children actually in the process is also effective Andrea
Guest Wolfie Posted October 31, 2008 Posted October 31, 2008 (edited) Hi Raz I don't think you're being unreasonable at all - your approach encourages the children to be creative whereas at the moment it seems to be the adults that get to do all the creating! This bit of writing about fluffy duck syndrome might appeal to you! Fluffy_duck_syndrome.doc Edited October 31, 2008 by Wolfie
HappyMaz Posted October 31, 2008 Posted October 31, 2008 (edited) I personally dont even think cut outs of any shape for them to fill in are using the child's imagination!! I agree, Andreamay, but we have to bear in mind where these practitioners are coming from and raz's suggestion of giving pre-cut shapes to decorate might be a good halfway measure! Once they see how engaged children will become when they are free to experiment with texture and colour (and with a bit of good leadership and role modelling by raz ) perhaps they'll be more motivated to offer more appropriate creative experiences. And you're right: sometimes children's own artwork does need to be clearly annotated so that the adults can see the child's vision! Welcome to the Forum, raz - thanks for starting such an interesting thread: you're sure to get a lot of opinion about this one! Wolfie's fluffy duck syndrome is really useful: has anyone seen the one about the little boy who liked to draw horses until his grandma bought him a colouring book full of horse pictures? I've talked to my staff about it but can't find an original copy? Maz Edited October 31, 2008 by HappyMaz
Guest Posted October 31, 2008 Posted October 31, 2008 Hey Raz, good discussion and welcome to the forum. I think this is the poem Maz is referring to: poem_re_creativity.rtf
Buttercup Posted October 31, 2008 Posted October 31, 2008 I agree with all the above. I think there is need for both pre cut and own creations. we made dinosaurs the children were provide with different materials some were able to draw their own shape. yes we have a display of funny shaped dinosaurs created from the children which look great but in the middle we have one pre cut dinosaur the children decorated which was our starting point. the next thing i wanted to do was for the children to practice cutting so they cut up straws to make bones which they stuck onto a pre cut dinosaur. all the children really enjoyed this. yes they all look simular but the children would not be able to draw a dinosaur to stick their bones onto.
HappyMaz Posted October 31, 2008 Posted October 31, 2008 Hey Raz, good discussion and welcome to the forum. I think this is the poem Maz is referring to: This is a good one, LJW but not the one I am looking for. Will keep looking to see if I can find it! Maz
Guest Posted October 31, 2008 Posted October 31, 2008 Hey Raz, good discussion and welcome to the forum. I think this is the poem Maz is referring to: Love the poem - thanks for that
Guest Posted October 31, 2008 Posted October 31, 2008 Welcome to the forum, recently new myself and find I am now addicted! This is one of my huge bug bears, I hate any pre-cut out shape of anything. My TA insists on digging them out and as soon as they land in the classroom they end up in my bag! I also hate anything to do with sticking things on paper plates. So no you are not being unreasonable in your request at all, in fact I think you are being rather kind. There is nothing worse than seeing art work that looks the same.
Guest Wolfie Posted November 1, 2008 Posted November 1, 2008 My pet hate is shapes filled in with screwed up bits of tissue paper! Grrrrrr!
Guest Posted November 1, 2008 Posted November 1, 2008 We have recently made spiders to hang from our ceiling. I did provide precut shapes out of the spiders body but the rest was left for the children to create themselves. Black pieces of paper for them to cut out eight (sometimes more, sometimes less) legs for their spider and a variety of pens, paint etc for them to decorate the body. I did have to remind one/or two members of staff the keep their hands tied behind their backs whilst the children put the legs on their spider..some had 6 on one side and 2 on the other, each spider was different but they were the childrens own creations and they were very proud of them hanging from the ceiling and showed their mums with great big smiles on their faces. I think if you get the balance right between pre cut shapes and allowing the children to make their own, we are hopefully doing things right.
Sue R Posted November 1, 2008 Posted November 1, 2008 I used to work in a playgroup where fluffy duck was a serious condition!!! We've recently made elephants from plastic milk bottle top sections - all they had was the plastic, and the design and make area - Fantastic!! We made a great Elmer Day Parade (OK - Yes, I provided the base shape, but they really are great!)
Guest Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 This discussion has reminded me of the French and Saunders clip where two Mums arrange a 'creative morning' for their childre. Really funny and worth trying to watch if you haven't seen it.
HappyMaz Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 My pet hate is shapes filled in with screwed up bits of tissue paper! Grrrrrr! Oh Wolfie: but they are so good for developing fine motor skills!
HappyMaz Posted November 2, 2008 Posted November 2, 2008 GGGRRRRRRRR!! Was it something I said, Wolfie?
Guest Wolfie Posted November 3, 2008 Posted November 3, 2008 (edited) I can remember an occasion when I had my own nursery - a new member of staff started and hadn't been warned about my aversion to anything screwed up and tissue like.....she planned and presented just such an activity and when the other staff saw it, a hush went over the room as they waited for me to spot it! Oh, the power! Edited November 3, 2008 by Wolfie
Guest Posted November 3, 2008 Posted November 3, 2008 Wolfie - know what you mean though Welcome Raz Hi, Spent time trying to explain to a colleague today why I want my children in Reception to make their own poppies using a petal outline for them to base their design on then, to spend time drawing and cutting it out before they assemble it themselves rather than cutting out a picture of a poppy, colouring it in and then pinning it to our Rememberance day wreath. Eventualy had to take her through each step and explain all the skills involved and finally she understood what I meant. Sadly it is people in other parts of the school who expect us to work from predsigned templates who will then moan that the children do not have the skills that they need when they reach the other classes. Sorry for my moan about this but always remember walking into my classroom with the previous teacher who had made 30 rockets and even the angle at which the rockets were mounted on card(by children????) was identical!!!! Needless to say that is not how it is now! Nicky Sussex
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