Leaves are Falling All Around

Kindergarten Fall Leaf Prints 

(And last weeks watercolor exploration is now on display!)

 

This week, in honor of the arrival of cool, fall weather, the kindergartners made prints using fall leaves!  We began this week with a question:

What is a print? 

Hand prints and foot prints were examples that came readily to mind. From there the children quickly uncovered that a print (in art) is when you press a painted object onto a piece of paper to make a copy of that object. Now we began making prints with paints and leaves!

Supplied with red, orange and yellow/gold paint along with a selection of maples leaves, the kids went to work sponge painting the back (bumpy) sides of their leaves and pressing them onto their black paper. They also had the option of printing with mum flowers to add additional interest to their pieces. Finally all the children were supplied with clean sponges and blue/silver paint and encouraged to carefully dab the blue paint around their leaves and mums... creating a blue sky in the background.

 As you can see they were vibrant with fall colors and quite beautiful. They will go on display outside of Bearville and Poohville as soon as they are dry!

 

Watercolor Exploration From Last Week is on Display

And for those of you who were curious to see the free watercolor exploration that the children did last week, they are now on display in the main hall of MMS.

Your child's work is displayed vertically.  Close up photos below.

From left to right: Luke, Maya and Deven

From left to right, Benjamin, John and Andrew

From left to right, Andrew, Sameer and "mystery artists" (who forgot to sign their names!)

Parents: a note on viewing your child's art work.

 I know that it can be very hard to refrain from comparing your child's work to others. In fact, it may be impossible. I volunteered for my daughters art class and had a terrible time not intervening to "correct" her when she started veering off the task the teacher had set.

Don't judge like I did! Just remember, when viewing what your child has created that the process and experience the children have while making the art is more important than the final product. They are just begin their journeys into creative expression and the most valuable thing that we can do to help them on their way is to truly value their experience and to support them as they explore new ways to express who they are.