Art

Thinking Outside The Box

'Colour is a power that directly influences the soul'- Wasily Kandinsky

At Inspirations, children always think outside the box. Just the other day when a group of preschoolers were making scented playdough during their art session, a child exclaimed; “Smells are like things you can smell but you smell them and you see it in your eyes”. When another added that smells can be seen, lovely smells as well as bad smells.

As a Senior Educator I am required to make sure that the preschool provision fits relevant standards set and recommended by Ofsted, Early Years Foundation Stage, Health and Safety regulations, Safeguarding and Child Protection, UNCRC, Children Acts etc. I have forms and tick lists for absolutely everything. My life has become a policy and a procedure easily entered into a Microsoft Spreadsheet, whereas a child’s view of life is magnificent, limitless and without bounderies. And I am not referring to imagination. The child from the art session was not using imagination when linking smells to vision, she was critically evaluating; using the skill needed for graduate-level research.

So often, the education systems forgets that children are pools of limitless knowledge that can not be defined by regulations, tick lists and spreadsheets. This made me reflect, if smells can be seen, can our feelings be defined by something other than smiley and sad faces; the traditional representation of feelings and emotions in a typical nursery setting? Why do we tend to simplify everything in order for children to gain understanding if the understanding is already there? Maybe it’s actually us, the practitioners that need to open their eyes to smells..

Therefore, I’ve decided to rebel against the traditional thinking and broaden our own understanding of life through the eyes of three and four year olds. I am looking forward to exploring the spectrum of feelings and thoughts through the use of colours. I believe, it was the founder of abstract art forms, Wassily Kandinsky who said that colour is a power that directly influences the soul, lets see if he is right.

Michaela- Pre-School Room Leader

by Inspirations