Art week pre-school

Why is ART important in your classroom? 

Art includes so much. It is all about experimenting and not the goal of making 25 the same "art" works. You learn children to appreciate each others works. Art is not only about paintings no! It about there talents and every unique person has talent. It is as well recognizing childrens work in the building area, etc ... 

How did I introduce art in my classroom? 

I started the week with the book "Grote kunst voor kleine kenners: museumschatten" also the book "Kunst met taart" is great to use. These are two books  in Dutch but they are user friendly for every language because it is more about the images. The images speaks for them self.

In the first book "Grote kunst voor kleine kenners" gives you a lot of  possibilities. Big art peaces are edited in a fun way that appeals to children, a fantastical way to apply art in kindergarten and make it discussable. It is a large A2 format book that is impressive by itself. I would strongly recommend this book to use.

The second book "Kunst met taart" is my other favorite book to work with. Every page takes place in an another famous art work. An original introduction to art for young children. Mrs. Dog's paintings have been stolen. The animals start the chase and end up in the great works of art of history. You recognize the works of Van Gogh, Mondriaan, Picasso and many other great artists. 

Experimenting on a chair 

I brought a big chair in the class. We made little art project where we worked on all together. It was an experimental phase because the most of them where the ages of 3. But the result is so wonderful. 

Before we started to paint the chair I taped some lines on in it. So when we would take it of we linked it to Mondrian's art work.

The children had so much fun in painting this chair, they experimented with colors. Discovered when they mix colers they can create new colors. They work with their fingers and all kind of tools, brushes, sponges, thoot brush, stamps, ... That  asks for fine motoroic skills.

Inspired by Henri Matisse cut out Technic 

Processing the same shape in three different ways collage, ripping and cutting out. This way they practicing different techniques around the same shape. 

Vincent bal shadowology 

Who is Vincent bal?  

Shadowologist and filmmaker from Belgium. See more of his work on Instagram, calendar and signed prints for sale here. Let the imagination of the children speak for themselves through playing with light and shadow. Vincent Bal has an amazing book. You could look for shapes in the nature, clouds, stone, .. go on a walk and take pictures from the thing the children see in something and let them create what they see. Stimulate their imagination. 

After the art week I made this diploma for everyone. I have written down all their names one by one and I laminated it. Because they are all little artist in their own way. It is not about good or bad. We learn to apreciate art and each other works. 

My own experiences

This week was incredible.The toddlers made amazing things. You can do so much for every child in this topic. It is all about creating and being inspired. I work around this topic the age of 3-4 years old. They are not too young nobody is to young or old to include ART.

I'm a very creative person and love art and to share things that I learned on my art school as a child. If you are interested to read more about art go then to my blog post for primary school "Art project primary school".