“ARTY BABIES” IN POCKLINGTON

ENGAGING CHILDREN AND ADULTS IN MESSY PLAY

As told by Helen Steele, Artist

I’m Helen and I work mainly with pre school children in a variety of settings. This story is about my Arty Baby group, which is situated in the 'Simply Books' shop in the market town of Pocklington near York. The combination of providing art workshops and storytelling by the bookshop's owner, Sara Waddington, has proved to be a great success (see Sara Waddington’s Story).

My aim is to provide meaningful art workshops in a welcoming, relaxed and inspiring environment where children can be free to express there creativity and develop their ideas and skills without undue adult constraints or preconceptions. I believe that an important part of this is to influence the adults to engage with the children in a positive and supportive way.

Receiving feedback from the children and their parents is extremely important.

Comments from Parents:

• very varied and hands on activities.
• encourage the children to touch, feel, experiment.
• The atmosphere is very relaxed and encouraging.
• not afraid of art activities at home now.
• I secretly enjoy having a go myself.
• Can we have sessions for just mummies.
• not at all inhibiting for children and parents.
• amazed at how focused and independent my child has become.
• now have our own art materials box at home.

In my workshop parents and grandparents can relax and get to know each other over a welcome cup of coffee. New friends have been made and existing friendships have been strengthened.

Sometimes in a home environment, parents and carers aren’t really sure how to encourage their children, or they are not keen on mess.

During the holidays we arrange outings. These trips allow the children to experience workshops in different and inspiring settings. Our last outing was to the Madhyamaka Buddhist Centre near Pocklington. It is situated in a stately home with wonderful woodland walks and impressive grounds. We are so lucky to have such beautiful facilities on the doorstep. This was an ideal opportunity for the children to collect natural materials for their art works. In this woodland setting it was easy to find fir cones, flowers, twigs, leaves, stones and lots of other interesting objects. These natural materials combined with the saltdough, (see Uncooked Saltdough Recipe), were used to create nature gardens/sculptures featured in some of the photographs. This exercise can easily be adapted for other locations, for example the seaside.

I came across the following poem by accident and feel that it captures how I feel about art provision in some early years settings. I have chosen a few lines to illustrate the negative and of course the, most important, POSITIVE message for us all to promote.

“And the teacher said.... What you doing young man
I'm painting flowers he said
She said.... It's not time for art young man
And anyway flowers are green and red
There's a time for everything young man
And a way it should be done"

“And she said....
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen”

“But the little boy said....
There are so many colours in the rainbow
So many colours in the morning sun
So many colours in the flowers and I see every one”

Young children are full of curiosity and enthusiasm. When providing art in the early years we must ensure that this natural ability and eagerness to experience and experiment is not stifled. We must always avoid being too focused on the end product. The learning process is in the doing and whatever the child has created is acceptable.

Professionally, my role is to encourage creativity in an inspiring and safe environment along with providing interesting tools and materials. In my art sessions there are no rights or wrongs and no - everything can be seen as a valuable learning experience.

It is delightful to see the children's confidence in their abilities grow. For example one of the children had chosen to finger paint. She was very animated and was enjoying the feeling of the paint between her fingers. For a while she was content making, wiping out and remaking lots of different images until she decided that she would like to print one particular picture. Normally she would have asked her mum for a piece of paper, but this time she took the next step alone and got the paper herself and completed the task. Madeleine is just three and at this early age had made huge choices and a massive leap of confidence without the intervention of an adult.

I can't emphasis the importance of creativity enough. It is an essential part of children's learning, developing observational skills, visual memory and hand to eye coordination, amongst other things. Also through constant praise and encouragement children become more confident.

My aim is to help them reach their full creative potential and help them develop skills, which will last a lifetime.

Let's all aspire to be like the little boy in the poem and say:

“There are so many colours in the rainbow
So many colours in the morning sun
So many colours in the flowers so lets paint every one"

REMEMBER!

“Whenever children are painting and gluing,
Remember the value is in the doing,
Provide the right tools, and they'll soon make a start,
On their labour of love and works of art.”

Happy painting everyone and don't be afraid to have a go.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, HAVE FUN

Story told by Helen Steele, Artist and Arty Babies

Storycatch supported by City of York Council (Inclusive Arts, Arts & Culture) - July 2010