Puff the Magic Dragon

After listening to a reading of the song book 'Puff The Magic Dragon' at his Music Class, Finn was inspired to draw magic dragons for the next day or so.  

I had a packet of 140 'self adhesive colour label' (found in variety shop for only $1 a packet), and suggested he could incorporate some spots into his art work (as scales, or patterns). 

He had a wonderful time creating patterns, shapes and layers. At one stage the spots became smoke, and in on of this drawings he decided that his creation was actually a fire-fly which he used a pen to add wings to (the top example). 

There is some great information on Jennifer McCormack's lavendilly site: 

http://lavendilly.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/childrens-development-in-drawings-part-4-talking-to-children-about-their-drawings/

Which discusses positive ways to talk to children about their artwork, and encourage them to think about the process they are engaged in. 

Machines

I encourage my 2.5 year old Finn to draw every day. I invite him to use a variety of drawing implements (ball-point pens, textas, chalk, pencils, and charcol) and on different surfaces (chalk board, cartridge paper, coloured paper, brown paper bags and cardboard boxes). 

Through the act of drawing, children develop a multitude of cognitive abilites including problem-solving strategies, symbolic representation, spatial intelligence and literacy skills. Drawing enables children to learn through active engagement, fostering connectivity and providing real meaning to learning.

In the early years of schooling, often children’s language skills are not highly developed making visual arts a powerful educational tool.  Children are more likely to understand and express abstract concepts such as emotions more readily through the use of images rather than through words.

Finn is very interested in machines, so this is a common theme for him. I encourage him to talk about him drawings and explain how his machines work. 

A Robot machine: it makes Robots 

A milking machine.