CHILDCARE – ATELIER STUDIO

We started our year working outside in the old chicken coop, which has been converted to an outdoor studio space. Here the kids can make all kinds of colourful mess with a little more abandon than they could indoors. We do a lot of mixing, painting and water play. We painted and washed a car and made some large scale paintings mixed with collage pieces from the nature around us.

Moving back inside we’ve gotten back to working with Microsoft Paint, Autodesk Sketchbook and Fruity Loops, expressing ourselves with colour and sound through technology. We’ve been drawing, colour mixing, painting with messy watery paints, shaving foam, oil and food colouring, painting at our easels. We have been using Google images for visual reference when drawing, creating plasticine creatures, constructing with boxes, hammer and nails and recycled materials, singing songs, taking photos. We are having a generally messy and excellent time creating all kinds of artwork and engaging in creative and imaginative play.

I try to work the studio programs around what children’s classes have programmed and I am always impressed at the ideas and activities that our team comes up with. I am extending these however I can as well as doing art specific activities based on what the children choose and show an interest in the studio. Our latest task being screen printing, which the Kodomo and Pikanini children specifically have been enjoying a lot, producing a ton of beautiful prints using stencils and a screen-printing screen, a couple of squeegees and some paint rollers.

I would like to encourage all of our parents and families by letting you know that your children are VERY creative and do some amazing work in the studio, working together, sharing ideas and learning how to use creative tools with surprising speed and ease. You should all be, (and I imagine you are), very proud.

From Mr Marwick