Area pictures

[Guest terrydoo73]

I attended a meeting this week which suggested ideas to help children settle in the first few weeks. One thing we all agreed upon is the value of area pictures to help children find their way but something I picked up on which I wanted your advice on as to whether you do this and the value of it before I implement it in my setting.

 

When a child is doing a painting or using the junk art material to create something, take a picture of the child in the process then attach it to the painting as it goes up on the board. The child will recognise their own picture before the painting with their name on it apparently! I thought it was quite a good idea and can see the merit in it for the child to take pride in their work and show it off to parents.

 

Anyone do this? Does it work? How long would you keep the painting up for?

 

Another suggestion was (and if you have room!) is to have a picture of the child on the notice board and put all their art work beside this picture changing it on a monthly basis. Does anyone do this?

[Mouseketeer]

I like this idea, but could see it being a bit time consuming getting a pic each time a child is doing something that may be displayed, (my lot are a bit camera happy as it is )maybe a laminated photo of each child that could be attached to whatever they've created along side their name would work as well.

[Fredbear]

Hi we have a art gallery. This was a fantastic suggestion that a kind person shared on here.

We have some really huge display boards that have been divided into sections so each child has their own section on them. They can come and change the art whenever they want to. Obviously some change theirs more than others depending on their interests. To keep it confidential as we are a packaway setting each square is numbered and parents are informed of their child's number when they start. Works really well for us.

[Cait]

We also have an art gallery with clip frames from Wilkinsons.

 

Our children have a sheet of stickers each which have their name and their individual logo on. They stick these to their artwork for the walls. Once they are starting to recognise their name we print them without the logo and then the next step is a blank label for them to write their own name if they don't want to do it directly on their paper.

[apple]

we too have a large 'gallery' board that children put up there own work. It is a soft based board that will take push pins. The children seem to enjoy pushing the pins in more than displaying the work (great for fine motor) :rolleyes: However, we find that the majority of children can recognise their piece on the board anyway. I think the process of them displaying (i.e. choosing where it will go) helps in the process of remembering. We often get them to take their parent to the board so that they can celebrate their work.

I agree with mouse that it could be a bit time consuming to print off pics all the time. We use a digital photo frame in each of our family group areas and use this for both reviewing what the children have been learning/working at and also to share with them what is available in the different areas each day - this forms part of their planning time. We have found this really helps at the beginning of the year to allow children to get used to the area names and what can be done there. It also encourages language too.