Guest Posted January 12, 2013 Posted January 12, 2013 Hello I am interested in putting a paint station in our creative area to encourage C.I.L. and was wondering if anyone knew if there were any resources out their that I could use. My idea is to use a small flip photo album with printed cards showing how to mix up powder paints, shades,textures etc. Card 1 would show how many spoons of powder paint, cards 2 would show how much water to add and so on. Needs to be colourful and simple for 2-4's. many thanks :wacko:
AnonyMouse_44055 Posted January 12, 2013 Posted January 12, 2013 I would consider laminating the cards and putting the how to mix up in sequence where they can be seen without the need for the children to flip through the album. I found that our children have quite enough challenge managing physically handling the paint and palettes and would struggle to co-ordinate holding \ flipping \ viewing with managing the powder, water etc... We have pumps with ready mix in them which is nice but they need to hold the palette and press the pump and hold the bottle - you need three little hands. It has of course meant they have become better at teamwork as they now help each other - one holds the paint pot and presses the pump and the other holds the palette in position! I think the flip album would be lovely with ideas of how to mix colours though. Perhaps you could create the book with the childrens help; pose it as a problem that you want to find out what happens when you mix different colours. They could make the cards by painting the two starting colours at the top i.e. blue and yellow and then mix the colours and paint a blob of it at the bottom of the card. These could then be laminated and bound with a comb binder or added into a photo album for the children to use alongside the station. Good luck, ours love the painting station and feel really grown up because they manage it themselves. Mel x
Guest Posted January 13, 2013 Posted January 13, 2013 Thanks Mel I hadn't thought about how many hands they would of needed! Where did you get your pumps from? I like the idea of them. I suppose I could make up a poster and fix it to the painting cupboard so they could see how to mix up the powder paints. I will definitely make up the colour mixing book with the children though.x
AnonyMouse_44055 Posted January 13, 2013 Posted January 13, 2013 I bought Palmolive hand soap in Tesco when it was on offer and decanted all the soap into an empty fizzy drink bottle and we used the empty bottles and pumps. The paint *can* clog in the pump if it is left too lng between uses especially over holidays. We are experimenting with thinning it down a little to reduce that. However it has really made it accessible to the children. We have a stack of palettes on the side, a stack of paper and a selection of brushes. They take a palette and choose their colours and carry it over to the table. Next step will be to add a washing up bowl for the palettes, at the moment they re-use the palette and take a new one when they are done. Periodically we wash up all the palettes. I love your idea of a colour mixing book though and I think we will make one too - especially with those children who have colour exploration identified as a next step in EA&D. Good luck with it - would like to hear how you get on. Mel x
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