Water color paintings are a wonderful way in which young minds can often relax, create and become inspired to learn more about a topic of interest or to create a story.  So many ideas can come from one painting or simply the act of painting.  An idea formed from painting can cross content areas easily when that child either takes the concept to another interest area to construct or dramatize, or the idea can spread to other children and inspire them to create in different ways.

This is a picture I took of a three year old using blue and green watercolors.  When I asked her to tell me about her painting, she told me it was a crocodile.  I waited till she finished before I even approached her with my desire to know what was on her mind.  Giving her time to go through the creative process is much better than rushing a child through questions when they are in the midst of creating.

I find often times that young children if exposed to certain genres of entertainment or to older siblings interests, those interests become the younger child’s to some extent.  The picture above is a creation that ended up being a “zombie”.  This child is too young for most of the “Zombie” shows, yet she does have older siblings that have some influence over what she thinks about and eventually expresses.

 Once again I act as a scribe and make sure I write down word for word what the child dictates to me.  I have always preferred to write the correct spelling and then the way the child actually enunciated the words.  To me every process of development a young child goes through is special and I respect and value the brief time a child is a child.  You may have also noticed what appears to be small circles above and below my written words.  The circles are actually the child repeating what she wanted me to write and showing me she too can write.  Early writing is so precious!  The attention and time she took to make each mark shows how much she valued her own work today.

If any of you are Teachers, Educators, Families or just People who love reading about young children and how they learn; please share your ideas and experiences.  I would love to read about them and learn from you too! 🙂

Heidi, The Marigold School of Early Learning