Tuesday, November 3, 2020

What's happening at Mangere Bridge Kindergarten: Art is freedom of expression.

 We haven't used this blog for quite some time but felt it would be a good place to put our thoughts about our practice and values at Mangere Bridge kindergarten and in the ECE sector.

So here is our first update in quite some time and it was provoked by a Facebook post.

 Today on Facebook I (Carol) came across a photo of an idea for an art activity using dinosaurs and the shadows they create on a long piece of paper laid out on the ground outside. This was on a NZ ECE teachers discussion page. At first I thought “oh that’s interesting” and followed the comments for a few down and then I started thinking about what exactly this is saying about art with children. I began to reflect on the philosophy behind this and it created an uneasy feeling for me. I felt quite confronted and found myself asking “What’s the difference between this and templates or colouring books” I wondered and then thought “Not a lot”. I went back to the page and tracked down further and found a comment by Jean Rockel, a thoughtful and wise University of Auckland academic who said”I think its terrible” and “its a technical exercise”


I feel I have to agree with Jean. This form of planned art experience seems to me to be telling children that they are not capable of drawing a dinosaur shape themselves and brings to the fore a myriad of questions “What is art, how do we support art, what is the role of the teacher/kaiako in art, how do we acknowledge the process and the product, all in a holistic, ako model of curriculum.


Te Whariki addresses art in the Communication strand telling educators that children experience an environment where “they discover different ways to be creative and expressive” but this is often taken as art planning for children should be about producing artwork the same as the others in the group , at the same time and using the same equipment, tools. This would seem to be about the technical not the creative. 



The Tate modern tells us that “… technical drawing is a form of representation of objects that follows a set of international standards. Artistic drawing is the free representation of feelings, actions and ideas”.Oct 8, 2019


If we want children to be creative lifelong learners and lateral thinkers we need to look very carefully at what we present to them as art, what we believe about art and the place of art in the lives of the young children we teach. Noted educationalist Ken Robertson (2000) urges us to Consider art as a thinking tool. While there is a place for technical drawing in our society and communities, probably foremost in construction, architecture and computing, it is the free representation of feelings, actions and ideas we are hoping to foster and strengthen in our children in early childhood centres across Aotearoa Nz.



It seems to me also to be saying that children are not capable of drawing a dinosaur shape them selves and that their art should look the same as everyone else. I believe this art idea really does not meet the outcomes of being creative and expressive.


At Mangere Bridge Kindergarten our philosophy is built on seeing children as capable and competent learners and we believe there is no place in our planning or space for templates, adults who draw for children or the use of colouring books.


Our art planning starts in the same place as all other planning in the kindergarten. Our relationship with the child comes first, what do we know and what are they interested in? How can we support children to build on the skills and experiences they bring from home, the community and the kindergarten and nurture that spark of individual creative spirit that lives in all of us?


We often find that initially children have very limited experiences of art tools. paints, brushes, felts, dye, rollers etc and so we begin by providing open ended experiences where they can use the equipment and learn how these things work. We endeavour to provide a wide range of media to foster competence in representing ideas, clay ( modelling and we have a pottery wheel and Kiln), screenprinting on both fabric and paper, various pens, dye and paint. 

We are often asked to draw for children and our response is always to engage with the child about what the child is trying to achieve and how we can support that. We have found much as Alford (2018) that if a child tells us they can’t do it , it is not that they can’t do it but that the child does not know where to start. 



Until recently this child often wanted us to draw for her but now as we have worked together we can see the work she has put into her fabulous unicorn. And today several weeks after the unicorn a drawing of her family.




We talk about the shape of the unicorn, dinosaur, flower, octopus…. and point out the starting point could be the head, the stem, the petals etc. We stay to talk and work together reflecting  Angela Annings words:


“Parents (… and teachers) can help by making suggestions, modelling strategies, looking at images in books or photographs or guiding their children to look at objects carefully, talking them through the outline shape and salient features of what it is they are trying to represent”. 

Anning




Every Monday we are on the farm.These peacocks were painted after we saw them at the farm and took photos of them.



We want to see each child’s world through their eyes, to learn more about them and to build a relationship that supports learning across all curriculum areas. “As Malchiodi (1998) argues, drawing offers a window into children’s preoccupations, passions, problems and possibilities” p117

When we can look through that window and use children’s passions in their art work we see the most amazing creative viewpoints. Our children have drawn dinosaurs, all manner of animals and birds, flowers, trees, superheroes, popular culture figures in the most amazing colour and detail all from their perspective as we sit together and talk about their work and their interests.






Foreman (1996) writes ‘Art is an interpretation of experience. . . Art can help us look at how we look at life… Art becomes a tool for thinking” 

George Foreman ( 1996) Negotiating with art media to deepen learning. Childcare Information exchange. March.



We don’t start with preconceived ideas about how any one drawing, painting, sculpture should look but rather ask how we can support the intellectual art process. We provide the tools and the materials, and use photos and artwork of well known artists to provoke and inspire, talking about technique and colour, shape and form, and the feeling in the creative experience. We believe every child is an artist and their effort is valued and displayed as they practice using the art tools and interpreting their view of the world.


It is important that adults respect the children’s growing sense of their own aesthetic sensitivities, rather than coaxing them into a formulaic way of drawing” p 119





This child created a backdrop for her puppet show for a daytime scene and a nighttime scene. She initiated the art work herself and carried through her plan.


Over many years we have worked to promote and protect children’s observational drawing and painting by creating a physical and mental space for the possibility of deep engagement in the creative process and by valuing the effort that goes into it. We document carefully the developing awareness of their own creativity in children and acknowledge their individual responses to the world around them. 

Our physical art studio space is to the side of the main thorough fare area so that there is a designated room and lots of time to work through creative ideas alone or alongside others. At times children have collaborated on art pieces and these, with the individual efforts of many of the children line our gallery wall space, celebrating the variety of experience, viewpoint and perspective of all of the children. 




No work is the same as another - and nor should it be as all of our viewpoints are different and individual. Ann Pelo reminds us 


Each time children re-visit their work, their thinking deepens; they recognise inconsistencies, notice new details highlighted by a particular medium and see things from a new perspective, or discover connections among them. (Pelo, 2007). 



We need barriers of beauty so that the world gets bigger
If you and your neighbour are creative we need not travel far 

We need not walk far because paradise is just around the corner
(Hundertwasser, 1980) 

When we accept the efforts of our children, support them to offer their creative perspective and acknowledge that art is a journey then paradise is indeed just around the corner. 


Monday, March 26, 2018

Kindergarten at the Farm - Back in the cave again

It's been a long time since we have been in the cave and it was such fun to be back there again.
Today was a really hot day and it was hot both down in the cave and up in the paddock.
However everyone was so busy exploring that they quite forgot about the heat. there was so much discussion :
"It was so dark"
" Fun! If you eat lots and lots of carrots you can see in the dark"
" It was quite deep with lots of rocks"
" Dark!! I had two torches"
" It was alright"
" We were looking for the Spider King"
"Good. There was like little tiny bits of a cave and it was really good. There was a bottle and some glass"
" It was fun. I see rocks"
" It was fun too. I saw some rocks. I had a torch. Not really scary"

We had a grandad along for the day who is a Geo Tech Engineer and he told us "It's basalt rock. The holes in the rock are from the gas bubbles. The white stuff on the rocks is lichen"

The walk back to kindergarten across the paddocks was a real test however of everyone's resilience and stamina. But we all made it thanks to a juicie stop on the way.




Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Our pumpkin is cut!!!!!

OH No Today one of the children came in with our pumpkin on his trolley. He and his family had found it in the walkway and it had been cut from it's stem.
It is really heavy now - 26 kgs we think and someone must have thought they could cut it and take it home but then discovered it was TOO heavy.
We will have to think about what to do as it's not an eating pumpkin so perhaps we need a sign on the other one in the garden.

Monday, January 22, 2018

First day back at kindergarten and a pumpkin is growing

When we went for a walk in the Walkway garden today we found one of our pumpkins is growing. It is getting big and we will need to water it every day to help it grow bigger.

Monday, December 18, 2017

Kindergarten at the farm - A surprise at our bush hut

When we got to the bush today we found a BIG surprise. Someone had been and decorated our bush hut!! The children were convinced the fairies who live there and at kindergarten in the fairy kingdom had done it ready for xmas.
The children spent the morning rearranging the decorations and playing in the hut.


Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Our first sunflower blooms

We have been waiting and waiting to see the results of our planting and finally we have a flower. YEHHH

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Making Xmas gifts for our families


This year we decided to use our kiln to make xmas gifts. Each child rolled the clay and used shapes and then decorated their shapes. Some made 1, some made twenty and then we loaded the kiln and fired them. Next each cild put the string in their decorations and wrapped them ready for xmas. It was a bit tricky at times working on these gifts as we had to keep them under wraps so that they would be a surprise!! But we did it and we hear they decorated trees not only in Mangere Bridge but all over the country as they were gifted to family members. They looked fabulous when they were done.


Sunday, November 26, 2017

Re planting the walkway boxes



Our planter boxes out the front of the kindergarten on the way to the Walkway garden needed a bit of TLC today so we went out and planted some of our sunflower seedlings, grown from seed by the children.

Monday, November 20, 2017

Kindergarten at the farm - Helping at the farm

When we are about the farm we often do jobs for the farmers but today we had a very different job.
"Come and see" the children called "the lamb is in the hole".

What could have happened we wondered as we went to check and there he was the lamb in the hole!!
How did he get in there!!!  He was crying so we helped him out and the looked around to find his mum.
Oh there she is over there watching so we picked him up and took over to his mum


She happily answered the BAAAA and the lamb settled down to feed.

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Holding the guinea pigs


Our guinea pigs Ginger Snap and Coochey Coo just love coming out to sit on a knee and have a munch on tasty grass. We ffed them all sorts of delicious treats but still their definite all time favourite is green green grass.

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Eco friendly wet clothes bags

One of our goals for Enviroschools is to stop using plastic bags. We needed some form of reusable bag for wet clothes and had a big sail bag of spinnaker cloth donated to us. We decided to sew bags from the donated nylon and it has been an ongoing project.






Pat got out the sewing machine and over several weeks the children have been making the bags. We now have enough to use each day with a tag on that says "Borrow me" and "Bring me back". We will be able to phase out the plastic bags. YEAH!!!!

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Magic Peter comes to visit

We were needing some help with our kiln and one of the children's uncles is a potter, Magic Peter who volunteered to come and help out. He brought some clay and showed us his amazing magic hands on the potter's wheel and then helped programme the kiln. It was very exciting and the children were enthralled as he made 4 vessels in almost as many minutes. It takes us a lot longer to make anything on the wheel but it was a great demonstration of how if you practice and practice and practice you can become better at a skill like pottery.
Thanks to Sam's Magic Peter, Peter Collis we are now able to fire the clay works of our children and make them permanent examples of their work with clay.