Jump to content
Home
Forum
Articles
About Us
Tapestry

Colouring Pictures


Guest
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi All,

Just a very quick question, do any of you have colouring pictures for the children to colour. Or are we ot allowed to do this. I have plenty of different coloured paper available but not so sure about pictures to colour.

Thank you Dorinda

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi can i ask are Andrea May and Kristina in schools, as i know our EYA absolutely hates them and suggests we don't have them in our pre-school setting.

Saying that a large cohort of our boys love clipboards, small pads, envelopes, tools all for mark making.

We do have them available throughout the setting both indoors and outside.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have them in our mark making area along with our other mark making things and the majority of the children enjoy doing them. It is surprising how many children don't know how to colour and I often sit with them to demonstrate what you are supposed to do - if they aren't shown or are not given the opportunity they won't learn how to do it!

Edited by laura
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I personally hate them (we are a pre-school) some staff do sneak them in, when they do I ask what a child is gaining from them?

 

However if children request them I will get some if its what they ask for, BUT I feel like already posted clipboards, envelopes. pads etc ar much better, children can do pictures like this at home.

 

However its personal choice but children of pre-school age can get so much more from other activities

 

Sue

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But don't you find a lot of children are not allowed felt tips etc at home, many children come to us in our pre-school setting never having held a pencil!

I loved colouring pictures as a child, and as long as there is a balance of other mark making activities then they should be ok to use. Our OFSTED inspector sat at our mark making table with all our mark making things around her, including our writing boxes which include colouring pictures and other bits an bobs (eg a Ben 10 box, princess, spy box) and she liked the variety. She especially liked our hanging peg ring which we fill up with bits of paper and the children unclip, use and re-attach.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We do have a few. Sometimes children like to sit colouring - it's not something we promote, certainly, but they are there. For some children it's the security of the familiar and for others it's a quiet activity if they feel like something like that. Whatever their 'need' might be, they are there, on the mark-making bench along with all manner of shapes and colours of paper, card etc. Sometimes they take them to paint and I have even seen a child trace one. I had a child last week ask if he could photocopy one for his friend as there was only one tricerotops left. That was great fun and there are now about a dozen!!

Edited by Cait
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi can i ask are Andrea May and Kristina in schools, as i know our EYA absolutely hates them and suggests we don't have them in our pre-school setting.

Saying that a large cohort of our boys love clipboards, small pads, envelopes, tools all for mark making.

We do have them available throughout the setting both indoors and outside.

 

We are a pre-school but they are just among all our other bits & bobs, we also have clipboards, pads, post it notes, evelopes and these are just amongst all of this. So it is still the child's choice as to what they do, how they do it and what they use. Hope this makes sense.

 

Kris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have mixed feelings about them.

We do have them in the setting, but I do have to keep a careful eye on how they are used. Some staff would like to put them out as an activity in itself...........which for me is a total no no.

However that said we have about 4 boys at the moment that cannot get enough of them!! .........and they don't even care what they're of.

 

Also another option that we do use is; we have a programme on the laptop in which they can design and print their own sheets, this always proves popular.

 

 

xxx

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Kristina, just wanted to gauge if they were promoted more in schools than pre-schools, i know this has been an ongoing discussion with some of our staff members over a long time and i do agree with you that some children do appear to enjoy doing them, but children can become quite anxious and i have seen it first-hand when they colour over the edge. At such a young age it seems more appropriate to celebrate all marks that are made and let children expand their own imaginations through the use of tools to do so.

Just a personal view and certainly not a critiscism.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have them sometimes, along with other choices. Some children love them, and why shouldn't they, others are not interested. As for the EYA's hating them, they haven't got to do them!

 

Like most things, what's wrong with them in moderation as long as children are not made to do them.

 

Like the idea of the peg ring with paper on it, thanks for that one, Laura.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We don't use them, when worksheets were frowned on I got rid of all pre-printed material. Children have a mark making area with different coloured paper , envelopes, clipboards etc to choose from which they frequently use.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have mixed feelings about them.

We do have them in the setting, but I do have to keep a careful eye on how they are used. Some staff would like to put them out as an activity in itself...........which for me is a total no no.

 

 

Wow thanks for that comment I thought it was only my staff !!! :o

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I developed a real aversion to them when I worked at a setting where they were made to sit and colour in when they had been boisterous or hyperactive, and they were told to sit and colour in until they had calmed down.. so used as a from of discipline... left that setting because I would not do it!!!

 

I used to have them on the drawing trolley depending on current interests and leave it up to the child.. some liked it, others ignored them, but never said you must! all down to child choice.. but not all the time.. moderation being the key word...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

likewise its the children's choice :o We have a variety of mark making materials as mentioned. The boys have really enjoyed colouring in Ben 10 pictures end of last term which then led to other mark making activities.They really enjoy painting the sheets with pallette paints and thin brushes too.And yes the photocopying in itself is a job they love I dont think any child in good early years settings are lacking because they have colouring sheets available to them now are they? Like said its personal choice I say xD I Love the idea of the hanging pegs thanks Laura (i think) will def use that :(

andrea

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting post this one as I teach reception children and my class simply do not know how to colour in neatly and tend to scribble even though their pencil control is really good and they are writing well. They most of them came from a setting which does not encourage colouring sheets but provides a range of paper and pens pencils etc . I have today been considering giving them colouring sheets and actually teaching them how to colour in! as their colouring in of their own pictures is so scribbly and I know they can do better. I agree with what everyone has said but colouring neatly is a skill to be learnt (which will be expected of them as they progress through school)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But don't you find a lot of children are not allowed felt tips etc at home, many children come to us in our pre-school setting never having held a pencil!

I loved colouring pictures as a child, and as long as there is a balance of other mark making activities then they should be ok to use. Our OFSTED inspector sat at our mark making table with all our mark making things around her, including our writing boxes which include colouring pictures and other bits an bobs (eg a Ben 10 box, princess, spy box) and she liked the variety. She especially liked our hanging peg ring which we fill up with bits of paper and the children unclip, use and re-attach.

 

 

i would love to see a picture of this hanging ring..can't quite picture what you mean.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i would love to see a picture of this hanging ring..can't quite picture what you mean.

I wondered if it was one of those mini washing line thingies - vaguely circular with pegs that are attached with 'o' rings and hang down (used for hanging underwear on in our house). They usually have a large hook at the top to fix onto a washing line or whatever.

 

Would love to know if I'm right though! :o

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just a thought!

 

Using colouring sheets can be a really emotive subject and we all know why they are considered bad for children, but I just wonder if we have gone from one extreme to the other? Years and years ago ( hopefully :o ) they were used extensively in schools where a maths activity, for example, would be something like colour all the triangles blue, or learning about animals would mean colouring a sheet of them in. Horrendous stuff, and most of us know better. So has the reaction to this been to go completely the other way and not to apply judgement in our own particular settings? Should we be looking at how they are used, and ask ourselves what the child is experiencing and why they have chosen the activity?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree wholeheartedly with that and say that sometimes we are perhaps in very great danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

"Everything in moderation" was my Nan's favourite saying!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We don't have them, we use as already stated paper envelopes different media and materials, I don't like them much either.

but if you want them then use alongside something else

 

I actually love nothing more than to colour in my nieces colouring book with or without her but i still would not have them in my setting

Edited by Suer
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We don't promote colouring-in sheets either. However our children like to trace pictures, draw around shapes or stencils and then colour those in. I must admit I have always loved tracing pictures and will often be found hogging the coloured pencils trying to stay inside the line. xD

 

A student recently organised a mark making activity which consisted of a picture of a flower with stem, leaves and petals (approved by her tutor no less!). She expected the children to colour these in and that was that. One or two children did colour in but the rest fetched scissors and glue and went about cutting the areas up and gluing them to their paper like a puzzle. Can't wait to meet her tutor! :o

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. (Privacy Policy)