Finger-painting is a fun activity to stimulate children’s dexterity, sensory awareness and overall hand skills, as well as colour knowledge. This week our early learners were working with the theme of spring. The children were working in pairs on big butterflies.
Each group was given a butterfly outline and the first step was to trace the outlines of the butterfly with their fingers and then with a crayons of their choice.
After that each team was given the 3 base colours red, yellow and blue. Now the challenge was to use the thumb for red, the smack finger for yellow and the index finger for blue. The kids had to coordinate the fingers with the colours, they had to stay in the lines, they had to work together and share as each participant was working on one part of the butterfly.
The activity turned out to be very interactive with each group approaching the task in their own unique way. Some children took their time first observing what was going on around then, some pairs were jumping in the activity fast with involving their whole bodies into the painting which was visible later on their faces, arms and also their clothes as the paint was spreading beyond the picture, some children talked and asked questions before they started and some children became very aware of the variety of colours they were mixing in the process.
We always seek to find the balance between structuring our activities in order to enhance specific skills but at the same time giving enough freedom for self expression and space for an individual learning experience, as every child is different and unique in their process of learning and acquiring skills.
A big Thank you to Funimfundo and the food for thought Team for another year of learning, growth and great collaboration.
