The Young Artist as Scientist by Mary Jo Pollman

Author:Mary Jo Pollman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Teachers College Press
Published: 2017-03-18T04:00:00+00:00

Other Methods and Variations of Painting

Children can be scientists and create a pallet of natural paints. They can find colored rocks or black coal. They can grind each rock and add a binder of glue, starch, paste, or egg yolk. Then they can use the paints and identify the combination of elements.

Many materials including sand, dirt, and leaves can be added to tempera paint to give a textured look. Enhancing the smell of the paints can add another dimension to the children’s experience, but it is not advisable to add smells that could be associated with food like lemon, orange, or peppermint extract, for example, since young children may be tempted to taste the paint. Instead, try adding equally pleasant, nonfood smells like floral essential oils.

Teachers can also vary the painting surface. For example, the children could paint on cardboard, grocery bags, newspaper, wrapping paper, newsprint, or butcher paper. For more alternative surfaces for children to paint and experience textures, see Figure 5.2. Very young children often like to experiment by painting on the walls, but children can be encouraged to find more appropriate surfaces on which to paint. Painting outdoors allows children to have more freedom, and the clean-up process does not present a problem. Outdoors, teachers often allow children to paint the bricks of the building using water. Painting a fence, sidewalk, or wall with water, when the sun is brightly shining, is very enjoyable for young children. Images they paint using water will only last until the water dries, which encourages the practice of living in the moment and constantly exploring new shapes and designs. It also teaches the physical change of evaporation.

Finger painting is still the most popular painting activity in early childhood classrooms. Children enjoy finger painting as much for the feel of the paint as for the cause-and-effect designs they make. The expression need not be limited to the fingers; using hands, arms, and elbows, as well as feet or toes, and sometimes even the face to create images with nontoxic paints helps children discover all kinds of effects they can make when they use different parts of their body as paint brushes. Because of the potential massive clean-up, it is an activity that is seldom done at home.

“Finger paint” is used on glossy, smooth paper. Special “paper” can be purchased at art stores, but is relatively expensive. Waxed paper and other smooth papers work just as well. Formica tabletops are often used for finger painting, and if the children want a copy of their work, a piece of paper can be placed on top of the painting to get a print. Finger painting is messy, but it is an activity in which children make direct contact with the medium without a brush or other object to separate them from the paint. It is important for children to be allowed to finger paint and get messy without fear of reprimands.

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