Water colour art helps children in many domains

Painting is a way for children to do many important things: convey ideas, express emotion, use their senses, explore colour, explore process and outcomes, and create aesthetically pleasing works and experiences.

When setting up a painting activity for young children, stop and think about what areas of children’s development it may be helping. Most children enjoy a good messy painting experience, this will allow them to freely express themselves and develop their creativity. Painting can provide children with vast amounts of learning, this may be developing their fine pincer grip or learning about colour mixing. The opportunities are endless hence why painting was made accessible to our children throughout the week.

Watercolours are an interesting medium as children form many connections and ideas of how the painting process works for them. Teaching technique is about helping children control an art medium so they can get the most out of them, so that they get a good result and do not feel limited by their inability to manipulate it. For example, watercolours can easily become muddy if the brush is not washed in between colours and colours can become very pale and transparent if too much water is used, both of which can be demotivating for a young artist.

While we listen and observe, we may begin to understand the way a child perceives his world, his developmental abilities, and his needs or interests. We may have discovered inner Rembrandt's in the process!

Considerations with space and materials

The soothing process of painting is often what is interesting to young children. The pleasant feeling of painting over and over, possibly using two brushes or their fingers, is what is important. We need to encourage the experience where it interests the child, not the adult. As children develop, they become more focused on creating representations and conveying ideas. Young children need large pieces of paper (to have full range of motion) as well as a variety of brush sizes to experiment with (find what works best for control). Consider offering smaller quantities of paint so children can manage fewer spills and can mix colours without ruining large containers of paint. Colour mixing provides endless discoveries. Painting areas should support the child’s physical abilities. Easels should be at correct height or sturdy platforms added to adjust height. Move chairs from tables to allow children to stand and paint if they wish. Very young children can be held in a lap or sit on the floor with an adult.

The advantages of water colour paints vs. oils or acrylics

When it comes to paints, watercolours sometimes get a bad rap. They have the reputation of being unforgiving and unpredictable. It’s true that it can be difficult to correct mistakes with watercolours, and you sometimes have to be willing to go with the flow and let the paints do their own thing. However, the results of these “happy accidents” are often breathtaking as you can see from the results below. There were several key advantages that encouraged me to use this medium in the classroom. It is easy to clean up, there is less wasted paint, no harsh chemicals and is relatively inexpensive. From a purely visual standpoint, watercolour paint has an inner brilliance and clarity of colour that is often lacking in other types of paint. As a result, the paintings almost look as if they are lit from within.This transparency also makes watercolours extremely versatile. A single tube or pan of watercolour paint can give you countless different shades of the same colour simply by adding more or less water. You can build colours to add richness, or mix colours on the paper by layering one colour over another. This is where the learning occurs as children mix ratios of water and paint to find the best result.

Creativity

Watercolour painting enables children to develop their creative skills, which is just as important as the other skills this kind of activity promotes and develops. Opportunities for creative thinking reinforces children's ability to engage with the world in new and novel ways, which promotes inquiry, reflection and critical-thinking skills. It reinforces their cognitive skills and their ability to interpret and respond to the world in meaningful and insightful ways later

Fine motor skills

The delicacy of watercolour painting, unlike painting with heavier media such as poster board paints, requires a degree of gentleness and precision. Practicing these skills will facilitate and promote children’s fine-motor skills, which is crucial to early childhood development. Fine-motor skills are a child’s ability to coordinate small muscle movements, especially in the fingers, making this type of arts and crafts activity developmentally appropriate for a preschool-aged child. From watercolour painting, a child will learn how to coordinate the small movements of their fingers to produce a work of art. This will aid in their long-term ability to write, manipulate tools and objects and perform other small movement-based tasks essential to everyday life.

Rich conversations

Responding to and encouraging children’s painting is important. See if the invitation is open for conversation first. A good way to start may be to describe what you see; “Your painting has long blue lines and orange circles”. Wait to see if the child responds; she may want to share more with you or just want to return to her painting. Interrupting may interfere with the painting process.

When children seem ready to share, think of thought provoking questions. “I see you used red and yellow. What other colours might you use and where are you going to put them?” or “This part of your paper is filled with pink and white spots. What do you want to do to your painting next?” or, “What are you going to do with your painting when it’s done?”

Painting is a great way for children to communicate their thoughts either verbally or in the marks they make. Many opportunities can arise from a painting activity leading to exchanges in conversations, which is a way in for adults to listen and ask questions.  Children will often show their feelings through their marks instead of talking to adults, on these occasions, practitioners need to respect this and ask questions in a tactile way and not over question them.

It is important that practitioners are confident in the experiences they are offering children. It is not about practitioners thinking they have to be great at painting it’s about offering children the tools and resources to allow them to develop the necessary skills and build on what they know. Practitioner’s role is to scaffold the children’s learning and help them reach their full potential.