What will you do if I give you a few bottles of food colouring and a straw? Yes I know you can't possibly drink the food colouring nor blow bubbles in the bottle....but what about blow painting?
I have always been wanting to try this out with Le Xin but I am afraid she doesn't have sufficient strength to blow so instead of using tempura paint, I was thinking to myself how about give it a go with the use of food colouring instead (yeah I know that's my favourite art material and I guess I don't have to further mention why if you have been reading most of my blog entries :p)
Here's our learning experience, let's check it out!
Le Xin was trying to blow a drop of food colouring that was dropped onto the paper by me.
She became quite excited when she saw the food colouring moving but it only moved a little. I observed that she had a hard time blowing, there was more saliva then anything else haha. Just like what I expected, she really had insufficent strength to blow to make the food colouring move further. I showed her how I did it instead, it's okay we can try it the next time when you have more strength to blow I comforted her and fortunately she is okay with the idea of being an observer but I know deep inside she felt quite disappointed. Awww~ are we going to just stop this activity? Nope! Not just yet.......I suddenly thought of a new idea!
Let's get Le Xin to drop food colouring on a paper towel and observe what happened.....
My dear Le Xin thought she could blow the food colouring on her paper towel, just to find that the food colouring was instantly absorbed by it. I cannot blow this Mummy exclaimed Le Xin!
She continued to explore and explore......it seems like endless fun for her :)
I observed that Le Xin kept putting blue food colouring on the same spot just to see the circle becomes bigger and bigger, this could just be pure joy for her...
Next, she added a little blue food colouring on the yellow food colouring spot that she created earlier on and observe the colour turning green......
Haha Le Xin was like a small Sciencetist when she was working on her "experiment" and look how particular she was when she handled the straw. She really ensured that she held on to it tightly when drawing the food colouring from the bottle and only release her finger when her straw was near to the paper towel. (Actually I didn't realised the whole time she was working with the food colouring that was in bottle, when I am looking through the photos as I blog now then I notice it. I guess if I am more concious, I would have stopped her because she might topple the bottle right? Usually I will pour out the food colouring into a small dish.......Wow! I guess sometimes it's good to be forgetful haha, at least she had a chance to prove her competency and phew~ luckily nothing happened!)
Her masterpiece.....
A closer look at her "mixing skill"
Her work kind of reminds me of one of my favourite books!
Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni (Go get this book and read it to your child it's such a great book)
After we have ended exploring food colouring on the paper towel, I was about to stop but Le Xin asked me Mummy can I use my brush to paint? and I replied you mean you want to use your brushes to paint using the food colouring? and Le Xin nodded her head and gave me her cutest smile! Tell me which Mummy will reject her child when he/she acts cute.....hmph :p So of course I have to agree right?
So...... she painted.....
and painted...
and painted.......
till it was time to.......
Show me her creation....Well done my darling girl :)
During my 3 months break, God really gave me the opportunity to spend the most precious moments of my life with Le Xin. I really took the time to engage her in different forms of arts! From most of my labels, I believe you could already tell that I really love crafting and engaging Le Xin in different art activities...
However, I guess you might not know that I am a person who knows nothing about Arts actually and yes I am not an artistic person at all. Seriously, I can't draw, I can't paint, let alone come up with a decent craft that looks nice .....eh but wait....maybe it's only nice in the eyes of children who love everything I created. Well, I was just thinking to myself that day, ohh noo why is it that my colleagues are sooooo blessed with such good drawing, colouring and painting skills and I can't even draw a proper oval that looks like an egg whahahahhaa.
I guess everyone of us has different skills, even though I am not an artistic person I choose to be a CREATIVE person! I choose to focus on what I can do rather than what I cannot and I hope Le Xin grows up to believe strongly about her competencies too (haha Le Xin if you are reading this someday Mummy does mean what she said!)
Okay so what's the cool thing about engaging children in art?
Firstly, it enables children to express themselves. Have a think about this, we are often told not to do this or that, not to say something without thinking if not we will regret. However, in the world of arts, children could freely express and speak their mind without hesitation. They could express what they are thinking, their likes and dislikes so isn't engaging in art such a good way to distress? I know Le Xin is not stress about anything for now, though she is usually carefree, I observed that engaging in art often calms her down which is wonderful!
Secondly, it helps to develop their thinking skills and refine their motor skills. Through art, children get to refine their fine motor skills which is closely connected to other areas such as life skills, academic writing and etc... As for thinking skills, I guess a lot of imagination and creativity take place when a child enjoys him/herself in an art setting agree?
Last but not the least, I believe engaging in art provide a sense of achievement which adds to self worth! Most children take pride in their work, they usually value the process and is keen to show others what they have done. Every art creation is special to them, even if it does not seems pretty enough to an adult. Having said them, always remember to praise and encourage your child, recognising their effort is really important as it helps to boost their self-esteem.
I know many parents in Singapore are overly stressed with having to prepare their child for Primary One but we also have to keep reminding ourself that happiness is not only build on how well a child performs academically at school. Happiness takes place when a child get to play, express and do thing on their own where their voices are being heard instead of always being told of things that need to be done!
The End!
Did you have enough of my 长篇大论? haha you should be!
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