The five year olds were asked "What Colour is Christmas" and present reasons for why this colour was christmassy.
Red, white, blue, yellow, green, gold and orange were all suggested and all had various reasons for why this was the colour of Christmas.
Together the children needed to choose the three colours they felt were the most Christmassy to create an artwork with... gold and red were the first two that were agreed upon... the third colour took more dialogue to reach a consensus.
White was excluded because there was not always snow at Christmas, not last year, and that not all countries around the world have snow, as it is summer in some places...
Pink suddenly made the table... mostly because they wanted to paint with it... and no argument for why it was a part of Christmas was made.
Orange and yellow were excluded based that only some baubles were of that colour and green was chosen as the third colour... the colour of Christmas trees.
The art was on the light table covered in plastic - that was wiped clean between the sessions... the children painted either individually or in pairs... they got to choose... and for as long as they wanted or until the paint no longer responded to their movements...
At the end the children had an opportunity to return and paint together as a large group.
Those who wanted to, could save one of their artworks on paper.
It is a fantastic way for the children to explore colour, enjoy a sensory experience, collaborate, enter dialogues with each other, create stories on the light table in the paint, make designs and then redesign... especially good for those children afraid of making mistakes as they could wipe clean and restart so many times.
I was so interested by the fact that when I asked the children if they could sing Christmas songs and draw at the same time it impacted WHAT they drew... they actually drew small Lucia figures with candles in their hair.
When I sang "I ett hus vid skogens slut" (In the house by the forest's edge) the children started to draw houses...
It really does show what power we have over the children... even without realising it.
The children enjoyed painting up their arms as much as mixing the colours, discovering the magic of creating patterns on the light table in the paint... the feel of the smooth paint as they glided fingers, hands even elbows and whole arms through the paint.
a wonderful way to explore Christmas and to create a Christmas artwork.
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