Hello mums, dads, families and carers,
Here we're going to tackle some tough topics.
We'll discuss the advantages and disadvantages of colouring-in activity books and doing something for the child instead of encouraging them to do it themselves.
Colouring-in books are great! We can just sit them at the table with a colouring-in book and a case of pencils, crayons and textas, and know that they'll be preoccupied for at least an hour, if not more, giving us time to do some chores. For example: while the children are preoccupied, we're able to do the dishes, do the laundry, make the beds, sweep and mop the floors... We can even make a cuppa and read the newspaper!
Of course, as a child carer myself, I'm not promoting this; it's just an example.
Where, I ask you, is the imagination? Where's the great sense of accomplishment? Of course, it's great when you've managed to colour between the lines and cut in a straight line, but really, where's the sense of accomplishment and knowledge that this is they're work?
Colouring-in sheets aren't really they're work, are they? They're just colouring something in!
Why not encourage them to draw their favourite Disney/cartoon character and colour it in? It doesn't matter if it doesn't look "perfect;" that's they're work!
(I have a real problem with the word "perfect" because nothing's perfect!)
Now we come do doing things for the children, as in drawing something for them. It's great if you can create a picture and put it on display, and allowing the children to copy it onto their own piece of paper.
I volunteered at one centre and created a play experience: I read a story full of colourful pictures and I encouraged them to paint the chosen picture (a rainbow). Some of the children did so and others wanted to paint something entirely different. I was okay with that. As a child carer and parent, you have to be. This is what we call being flexible. I was okay with that because at least they were interested in something and were using their imaginations. The children who did attempt to paint the rainbow did well - they had a go and created their own version of the rainbow, which took up the entire page!
Why not encourage the children to draw/paint a picture to hang on the wall? It doesn't matter what it is - it's their artwork. If a child asks you to draw something, like a rabbit, encourage them to draw it, even if they don't think they know how. As I said, it doesn't matter what the end result is - it's their artwork and they worked hard at it.
Society these days has conditioned us to think something looks very specific and nothing else - as a result, we don't use our imaginations and we get frustrated easily.
At the very same centre, I had a child who wanted me to draw him a Ben 10 watch, but I had no idea what a Ben 10 watch looked like, as I hadn't seen the show before! I encouraged him to draw it himself, but he refused, insisting that I draw it. I did so, but it wasn't right - a simple clock face was not a Ben 10 watch!
Of course, it was a great learning curve for me, because I now know what a Ben 10 watch looks like - it's black with two green triangles meeting in the middle. It's supposed to be powerful/magic. The watch allows Ben Tennyson to turn into various aliens. Who would've thought?
Child care centres don't really like bringing in commercial products, like Ben 10, Cars (the toy cars from the movie Cars), Bananas in Pajamas... saying that, though, I have seen many commercial products making their way into child care centres, and they have been doing so for over 20 years!
They'll play The Wiggles and Playschool CDs, to which the children can dance along; play with the Bananas in Pajamas... I was doing work placement and the centre had two Bananas in Pajamas toys, among other dolls, where the clothes were removable and had press studs. A group of children loved to dress and undress the dolls, as well as B1 and B2. I played with one child in particular who would ask me to do up the Bananas' clothes (do up the press studs), and so I did. I then gave it back to her, where after she ripped them open once again. It was a great game in which to enhance her fine motor skills!
Another child loved to be read a book on the Teletubbies, which I enjoyed reading to her.
Saying all this, I know parents love colouring-in paper, as they can get more things done without the children hassling them to look at something every 2 or so minutes and they'll do something if the child asks, but try encouraging them to draw something from their own imaginations, or how they perceive something to be/look like, and see the sense of accomplishment that they get from creating their own artwork.
Remember, it doesn't matter if it's not perfect, or they made a mess - it's their own artwork and they worked hard and had fun at it.
Until next time.
Tokana.
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