Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Cut-and-Color Tables

Bev Bos, one of my inspirations in the field of ECE, always has a "cut and color" table available for the children.  Basically, it's an open-ended art station for kids to create something entirely self-initiated.  Last week I tried implementing a cut-and-color theme in the mornings at Beansprouts.  Here's my formula:
  • Paper (any kind, any color, depending on the theme)
  • Cutters (scissors, hole punchers, or pre-cut somethings)
  • Coloring media (crayons, markers, pencils, oil pastels, or even water colors)
  • Something sticky (tape, stickers, glue stick)
Here are some of the cut-and-color tables that I set up:

 Masking Tape, Highlighters, Scissors, and Bright paper

Fish cutouts, glue sticks, triangular crayons, blue and white paper
Shape hole punches, Glue sticks, Letter collage pieces, colored pencils

Open-ended creativity has been so under-rated, especially in my generation.  Coloring books and those paint-by-number pages told me how my art should look, while characters in the media became more tightly defined.  The ability to think creatively and outside the box is so valuable in so many contexts.  When I watch the children engage in open-ended art as well as open-ended play, I am reminded how, and why, Beansprouts is a great venue for the child's natural emergence of the self.  They come up with profound ideas and themes in their play, and because it comes from them, it captures their interest beyond anything I could offer.

1 comment:

  1. There nothin fishy about the creative ole 1..2 (hole)punch of the open-ended cut and color table.I can see that with abit of collagal sticktuitiveness an original inspiration will pencil itself into colorful existence.

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Wrestling is good for children.

Originally published Sept 2010 Many of our parents seemed shocked when they came to pick up their children from Beansprouts and found the...