Painting with LOTS of Four Year Olds

This is my attempt to give back all I have "borrowed" from the fantastic Art Teacher blogs out there in cyberspace on my quest to adapt creative and engaging lessons to the portability I need from travelling room to room.  Due to the layout of my beautiful school, I have no cart, simply my two arms and eager students. I leave a trail of art materials wherever I go. Students happily run after me waving pencils, bits of sparkly paper, glue stick lids, eager as puppies to return my abandoned possessions. 

and yes, some of them eat the glue sticks... not too many though...

Anyway, last night I started reading "Children and Painting" by Cathy Wiseman Topal.  Incredibly inspiring, clear and informative. My acrylic painting experiences are very limited in Kindergarten and Year One, where I  am in someone else's classroom space with very limited time. However, in the preschool areas, I can get a bit messy. I am in the same four year old space all day, so anything can happen! Today I worked with the four year olds on painting techniques. It is a bit of a conveyor belt... we are slightly rushed for time, the lament of the art teacher, and the students are in slightly different stages of art development and fine motor control. Some are deep in scribble stage, painting as they talk, moving their brush quickly, as if a sort of sign language. Some are making representations of people, places and experiences. Some are the boss of their paintbrush, and some let the paintbrush be the boss of them. Well, we are all here to learn, including myself! 

Today we practiced holding the paint brush properly. We used 1/2" brushes and good quality black acrylic paint. I have been trying to start my lessons with a question, to extend the inquiry-based approach at my school and allow the boys to express their own responses in their art. 

I asked them "What does your house look like?", "how tall is it?", "does it have a balcony... or a garage... or a patterned roof?", "which window is your bedroom in?" 

Of course being four years old, they all started talking at the same time in their OUTSIDE voices, shouting in excitement about their homes.  Some students painted as they spoke, others needed a starting point. (I think this is what educators call "differentiation"). I demonstrated how to paint a large rectangle shape, then encouraged them to add and extend.  When the black lines dry, next week we will paint in the colours.  

Beautifully mixed results today.  Playful representations of houses, some scribbly, some giant black blob houses, tons of enthusiasm! One student painted an amazing giant car, and said he lived in it (he doesn't, don't worry!). Some students took the opportunity to finger-paint (with high quality black acrylic paint!)  Lots of black paint...everywhere... all over my shoes and clothes. How does it get BEHIND my apron???

What does your house look like?
4 year olds visual responses