Painting TOGETHER with eggs

The Together on the Square project has very much inspired us in the atleier with our TOGETHER paintings - so it seemed very appropriate to do the same Easter inspired egg painting as last year witha few adjustments...

click here to read about last year

This year instead of fruit boxes we used trays... this meant the children had to be much more careful in what they were doing... I noticed last year that the high sides of the box allowed the children to feel safe about the egg being contained and therefore did not work as hard together on keeping the egg whole... the trays had low edges... enough to keep the egg on the tray as long as they were focussed on what they were doing.

It requires a lot of collaboration and communication - not just with words but feeling and sensing the movements in their partner so that they could work TOGETHER to make the egg roll...

Of course the egg fell off a couple of times (it was boiled, so there was no mess, except for a lovely paint trail as it rolled a bit).

There was LOTS of nervous laughter and excitement.

Another reason for doing just two at a time, is the whole concept of taking turns and taking joy in other people's joy - empathy - this part seems to be the hardest part... especially for the children who have already had their turn... it is a process... a process we are seeing lots of positive results as the children become better and better at giving each other pep talks and supporting each other in their processes. So it DOES feel like a worthwhile process to continue with...