We have been looking at patterns recently so thought the children would enjoy this activity. It is very adult led (however it is the children’s choice whether they wish to participate), so can’t really be described as a creative activity but covers aspects of the EYFS such as mixing colours, following instructions etc.
The children were provided with various templates and photographs of animals and selected the animal template that they wanted to do first.
They first had to identify which animal it was by looking at the photographs and then we discussed the colour and pattern of the animal. The children selected the colour paint they needed.
I purposefully gave the children a limited number of colours as I wanted them to mix the colours that were not available, which they proved to be surprisingly good at.
When mixing colours we talked about what colour were nearly like the colour we needed and encouraged the children to make suggestions and try mixing their suggestions together. The children particularly enjoyed mixing colours so we will do more of this next week.
After the children had painted the animals we looked closely at their patterns, identifying whether they were spotty or stripey and also the colours of their spots and stripes.
The children decided their thumbs would be best for making bigger spots and their finger for smaller spots
With the stripey animals, we also had to identify the direction of their stripes.
The children made all of these wonderful animals.
I then encouraged the children to make up some animals of their own. The decided on the colours they would use and then carried out their plans.We ended up with red and orange giraffes, orange and blue striped zebras and yellow dogs with black spots!
Links to EYFS:
CLL: Language for Communication – Where children respond and follow instructions
KUW: Exploration and Investigation – Noticing and commenting on patterns.
KUW: Exploration and Investigation – Noticing and commenting on patterns.
CD: Exploring Media and Materials – Exploring and mixing colours.
