The children at Hiba Nursery are encouraged to express themselves creatively every day. Art is a natural way for children to explore their thoughts and feelings and develop other life skills too.
Children enjoy manipulating different materials, imitating and observing the world around them and expressing themselves in a carefree way. Art does not need to look like something recognisable. Every creative experience a child has, whether a few marks with a pencil to a colourful painting adorned with glitter and sequins demonstrates that they are developing important skills needed for growing up but also, just as importantly, that they are having fun whilst doing it.
Alongside free choice creative activities, children at Hiba Nursery are regularly involved in whole school or whole year group art projects usually, to mark a special event or celebration. Collectively, the children produce a larger piece of work than one child or one class might be able to produce alone.
The first whole school art project on this year's school calendar will be produced for the Arts Festival. In preparation, a group of EY2 children have experimented with paint on cardboard masks. This particular task was especially challenging as the surface of the mask was not flat, as a piece of paper is. The brush required skilled manipulation to apply paint effectively on the rounded surface. The mask needed to be moved in order for the artist to access every facet. They needed to mix the paint to create a greater variety of colours and use sweeping, jabbing and swirling movements to create numerous marks to decorate the mask. This activity required the children to problem-solve, plan, experiment and make decisions all while expressing themselves in a new and exciting way. Once the children were satisfied with their creation they enjoyed seeing their teacher wear it for them to admire, of course, they also enjoyed putting the mask on themselves to see their friends’ reactions.
Children who are experimenting and trying new ideas give creativity a chance to flourish. When encouraged to express themselves and take risks when creating art, they develop a sense of innovation that will be important in their adult lives. Art can be a means of encouraging the process and experience of thinking and making things better. Therefore, each creative experience becomes a stepping stone towards growing up. For example, fine motor skills needed for writing or buttoning a coat or other tasks that require controlled movements are developed by grasping pencils, manipulating paintbrushes and holding glue sticks.
Children can begin to understand maths concepts such as size, shape and spatial reasoning when expressing themselves on a piece of paper or manipulating materials to create a piece of artwork. Children expand their cognitive development through practice. They learn that if they press hard on their pencil, the colour becomes bolder. If they flick their paintbrush, paint will spray across their picture. As children describe their artwork to their teachers or friends, they develop their language skills.
Such complex skills to learn and yet the children make it look so easy!
