Spaghetti painting

 Sometimes the choice of materials is the most important part of the process. Choosing to use spaghetti came from the need to offer the children a sensory experience. There were many fingers with the needs to fiddle, squeeze, pull and to just feel something different. Of course the finished product does tend to resemble a Jackson Pollock painting - and sometimes when I work with a group we will talk about Jackson Pollock and discuss his titles and whether they make sense to us. Sometimes the Jackson Pollock inspiration is not needed for the children because the process is the focus and when we are talking about the finished painting we talk about the process and how it felt.

spaghetti dancing on the canvas

 This spaghetti activity was divided into three session with 4-5 children in each session. The first session was 4 girls the second was 4 boys and the last was 5 children - boys and girls. I wanted to have a little exploration in gender differences - was there any? Were they stereotypical? and most importantly to observe and see how the children were so that I could offer stimulating and appropriate activities in the future.

canvas to the left then three bowls of paint and piles of spaghetti

 The set up was simple - the canvas was set up next to the table with three bowls of paint - for this session we chose blue, black and white to represent winter (black trees, white snow and to represent the cold we saw that the cold tap had a blue symbol on it...) In the first session I started with the spaghetti in  a big bowl - but ended tipping it out in a pile on the table for easier access and further exploration - so the following two sessions started with the spaghetti in a pile on the table. The children were shown how to dip the spaghetti in the colour and then to let it move across the canvas. Then it was up to the children...

after session one - a detail

 The first session of four girls was in virtual silence except for one of the girls who ran a running commentary of what she was doing throughout the whole process. There was little to no interaction amongst the girls. One of the girls did not like to get messy while another one really enjoyed the process once she was used to it and put handfuls of spaghetti into the bowls and dumped it onto the canvas and then picked it up. She listened to the sound that it made as it squelched in her hands.

after session 2

Session two was completely different - it was full of stories. The spaghetti strands were transformed by the boys into snakes - there was mummy snake, daddy snake and a whole load of baby snakes wiggling their way around the canvas. There was full interaction between all the boys and the boys more or less forgot I was there once they got going.

The last session was completely different again - this time the children sang songs together and the spaghetti and the children danced around the canvas.

My investigation shows that stereotypes do not reveal the real identities of children. According to the stereotypes it should have been the girls that were the more socially interactive using their communicative skills to the max - but here I saw that it was the boys who tended to do the most talking and storytelling.

The lesson learned - do not view children as girls and boys but simply as children with a whole range of skills, interests and needs. I am not saying that there are no boys and girls - but that there is a genderspectrum which has girliegirl on one end and boyishboy on the other - and a child can find him or herself anywhere on this spectrum regardless of sex.

for some children the process of getting messy was HUGE

Of course the process was a sensory experience - and there were children who LOVED getting messy while there were others that were uncomfortable with getting paint on themselves. This is when the pile of spaghetti came in handy. Those children who did not like getting visibly messy could enjoy themselves experimenting with the spaghetti. How long does it stretch? Can a strand be pulled out of the pile without it breaking? How many strands are needed to put end to end across the table? Plenty of maths and science sneaking into this art session.

how far can you pull?

  There is a complexity that makes the painting interesting and impressive resulting from the layers upon layers. Children can also do individual spaghetti paintings where they can have a long time to work at it, or several sessions to return to the work. Or one can add art medium to the paint and leave the spaghetti to dry on the canvas too so that it becomes a 3D piece of work or even a spaghetti sculpture.

The finished piece of art

It can be interesting to try other seasons or celebrations - we are in the middle of an autumn spaghetti with orange, red and yellows. Pictures will come when it is complete.

international drums

my son finding his rhythm

The pure excitement the wonderful energy that is rushing through my body now. The internet truly is a fantastic place! As much as facebook is criticised for being impersonal or people writing inappropriate things - it is also a wonderful way to make connections. To interact with like-minded pedagogues from around the world. A great place to learn.

Right now my heart is beating like a drum. A connection with a teacher in Johannesburg, South Africa will allow me to learn more about how she uses drums with children - allow me to bring some zulu rhythms into a preschool in Stockholm, Sweden. How fantastic is that?

So at some point here - there will be a post about drums and rhythm - and I am looking forward to that.

Many thanks to Gaye Dorkin for sharing your experience. It is greatly appreciated.

trying out something new

shapes, letters and patterns

 Sometimes it really is worth trying out what you see online. In all the years that I have worked in preschools in Sweden not once have a worked with shaving foam. Inspired by educators around the world that share their activities online I decided to give it a go - and did not regret it at all - even though I did get strange looks from the children and colleagues at first. Once the children got over their surprise they soon got busy - demanding more and more to feel, squeeze, spread out, clap their hands and make it snow and spread up their arms turning themselves into snowmen.

Just feeling the consistency is a wonderful experience

 Despite the fact that this is messy play it is SOOO easy to clean up - in fact the foam just seems to vanish. Any foam that got onto clothes did not stain or leave marks in any way - so this was the tidiest of messy plays.

direct onto the table

During my years as a preschool teacher I have come across many children who need to have sensory play of one kind or another - their hands crave stimulation. This was one of those activities that could really meet that need.

Last Easter we added colour to the foam and placed egg shaped paper onto the swirls of multi-coloured foam to create Easter patterns. Despite the fact that we had foam and paint directly on the table, it was extremely easy to clean up afterwards.

As the cold dark days of Swedish winter approach the shaving foam will make its appearance again - and now my mind is thinking of adding more materials to it to increase the sensory experience (by adding glitter, beads, or squirting it onto foil) but also to expand the learning experience too - how do different materials create patterns - what is the difference between a spoon, fork or comb - what will the effect of a sponge be...?

Really it is only our imagination that will limit us - sometimes things can be used in the most surprising ways. So next time you see an idea online - give it a try...

Dragon skins

Using bubble wrap to create a dragon texture

Creating the dragon skins was an alternative to drawing/painting a whole dragon. We had been on a visit to see the statue of St George and the Dragon and had sketched a dragon there - some of the children enjoyed the experience while a few felt intimidated. This did not feel good - there should be a joy to creating so I wanted to take the stress out of creating something that LOOKED like a dragon and do something a little more abstract - and making a dragon skin seemed to fit the bill.

We had read a book called How to Raise a Dragon - and in there we had seen descriptions of the eggs and the skins - so to create a dragon skin was a natural step for us - and for the children it seemed the right step - they were all very enthusiastic about it.

Testing - the whole process was about testing - here was a test to see if rings could be created by printing them

I had prepared the session by setting out materials that I thought would make great dragon skin prints and patterns - and then just to make it more fun I also put out things that I had no idea what sort of patterns they would make and even things that I thought would probably not make much of a pattern at all. I hoped that the children would experiment - and they did. Only one of the 12 children (in 2 groups) tested everything - and that child tested it systematically - she went through them all and then returned to her favourites. Most of the children kept to 4 or 5 things to make patterns with and one child used only one pattern making item.

It turned out to be easier to create rings directly on the paper

We started with a base colour - they could choose any colour they wished. Several were influenced by their friends choice - but most had a very clear idea of what their dragon colour would be - and asked to mix colours to create the right hue.

Once their paper was filled with colour they had access to the gold paint and other colours to make patterns. Only two of the children used a variation of colours - the gold paint was VERY attractive and was applied liberally by many onto the materials used for printing even if they then did not use the gold on their paper. For many the sensory experience was an important part of creating the dragon skin. It was a time of discovery - feeling the textures, seeing the prints build up on top of each other and then smudging them with hands to start again. There were amazing skin designs that got wiped smooth again before a new skin emerged proudly.

Painting the cardboard to create patterns. It also felt great as the sponge brush danced across the cardboard

The anticipation - will it work?

The joy of lifting up the cardboard and seeing a new pattern emerge - "like magic"

Most children worked at these skins for a long period of time. Only two children (one from each group) made the decision to finish much earlier than the others - I was happy to see that they could leave without influencing the others to shorten their experience... in fact I could have allowed more time - but feeding the children is important too...

This plastic was used in several ways - painting and printing but also using it like a stencil

Cut out kitchen rolls to try and create a scale effect. Whole, half and quarter rolls were available.

One of the children examined everything. He would paint something and he would then examine how the paint looked on the item - he then would print and print and then examine the item again and discovered the paint was almost gone. He did this with everything - he was the only child that put dry things onto his paper to create patterns - or maybe it was to discover how the paint went from the paper to the item?

One of the finished dragon skins

dragons kin detail

another detail

the final offering for today...

It was a great project to witness - and should the interest for dragons, lizards or dinosaurs ever pop up in a group again I will surely give this a go - allowing more time though!


December 2013
Looking back and reflecting on this I realise that this has been one of my favourite projects in the atelier...
Next time though I would love to delve into the world of dragons deeper and start to design dragon eggs and also encourage the children to think about what sort of habitat they live in, how dangerous they are, what they eat and can they be trained etc...
At the moment I canot think of how to develop the actual sessio further - maybe more items and more colours - possibly paint with structure to enable a more 3D effect...

So why do I work as a preschool teacher?

Well, its because I think its the most important job in the world. I think allowing children to have the best possible start in life is their right - whether it be at home or in a preschool.

I believe that all children have the right to reach their potential, to be seen and appreciated for who they are. Children have the right to play, to make mistakes and learn from them - just as any human does. They have the right to be heard. They have the right to try out new things or to observe and try out later. They have the right to learn in the way that is right for them - some learn fast others learn slow, some learn quietly other learn noisily. Its about respect - my respect for the children - but also helping them to learn respect for themselves and the ability to respect that the needs of others are different.

One of my favourite art activities I have done with children to create an understanding of everyone is different and yet we are the same was when we did a still life. A group of 18 five year olds sat round a bowl of fruit and they has to describe what they saw in front of them. The surprise on faces when some children explained that there was a banana at the front of the bowl was priceless - I mean there was an apple at the front of the bowl from where they sat. We stood up and walked around the bowl seeing how it changed depending on our perspective. We discussed how this related to things that happened in the studio or the building block area or outside in the yard ... the children began to understand that it was easy to misunderstand each other - and how sometimes when someone accidently knocked another child it was perceived that they had done it on purpose. We talked and talked. Then we divided into groups of six to draw our still life. The comment that has remained most vivid in my memory was when one of the children exclaimed loudly that another child had drawn her apple too big. The girl with the big apple looked down in dismay feeling that she had got it all wrong. So I invited the first child to walk around the table and come and see the fruit bowl from the same side as the now downhearted girl. He got up came round and exclaimed "It IS big from over here". There were smiles and apologies and then the discussion went back to how easy it was to assume someone else was wrong when you see it from your own point of view - and that it's important to sometimes go round and experience things in a new way.

I think being in the art studio is one of my favourite places to be with children...

I think a great deal of what I write here will find itself coming from that room..

Its started here.... and reflections three years later...

One has to start somewhere - and this is my start.

Sometimes my head is so full of ideas that I do not know where to put them - so I have decided to put them here.

Not at all sure where this journey is going to take me...

It just a case of finding out now.

it has begun...


I can hardly believe that three years later I am still writing and sharing my learning journey... and what a journey it has been... not only one in my setting with the preschoolers... but also one that has taken me far and wide... to Canada, to USA, to Iceland, to Palestine and to my home country of UK...

I continue to share my reflections of working with early years education here in Stockholm, Sweden... and sometimes people from the rest of the world have come to me... Australia, USA, Palestine, Turkey, Iran, Norway, UK, Singapore... 

it is such an honour to meet  all these people, these educators, these philosophers, these citizens of the world passionate about children's right to be heard, to play and to learn... to be valued. We learn together we share our experiences and I feel richer and wiser for having met these people.

My journey is far far from over... the more I travel and learn the more I realise how little I know, how much there is left to explore, to discover, to try and understand better and deeper and wider. And there is so much joy in that.

I have also, during this time gone from working as a preschool teacher to working as a head teacher/director (but still have my role as teacher of young children too!!). This means my journey takes another turn... I am facilitator with the children and my colleagues... to facilitate our learning and our growth.

Three years ago I never imagined I would be holding workshops both here in Sweden and abroad - and yet I do... and I enjoy it so much... I feel it is so important that we share our knowledge with each other - because we don't do this for our own prestige... but for the children... and by sharing our wisdoms, our failures, our successes, our reflections etc we can enable children, we can empower children... and hopefully contribute to a btter world.

I often shake my head with sadness at the state of the world, the horror of war, of injustice, of occupation and how that impacts people of all ages... not least children as it limits play immensely... and it is through play that children learn, that children are creative and learn social skills... social skills are essential if we hope for a world of peace... so I am blogging for play... play for peace.

the magic of this play with light felt right to be the magic of play, of imagination of interaction... and so seemed fitting to be the image for my blog...

playing with children in Jenin Refugee camp... getting down on my hands and knees WITH the children was something that took the teachers there by surprise...

the joy of visiting other settings to be inspired... here is an image from my visit to Ekudden that I did together with Diane Kashin from Canada... a friendship forged in the play and learning of young children.

over the last two years I have been documenting the parks and play-spaces in Stockholm... its not a speedy project... its done when we have the time at the weekend and my children come with me...

I have been lucky to visit Boulder Jourey School twice... once as part of their summer conference... and also when I gave a workshop there.

of course the children are always central in this blog... reflecting on my interactions with them... as well as their interactions with each other and the world.. a strong belief in their comepetence and thirst to learn... and the joys and wonders of play... ALL kinds of play.

Together with Tom and the wonderful Hulda, who sadly passed away this year at a far too young age, the International Fairy Tea Party was started in 2013... to celebrate children's play and imagination... each year more countries join in the celebration. I fell in love with the products of Fafunia in early 2013 - and I get to watch the wonderous imagination of the children transforming themselves and the clothing in their play on a daily basis. These sets allow the children the freedom to play THEIR way.

My journey did not start at Filosofiska, but in January 2013 I have been sharing my learning journey of working philosophically with children. I thank my colleagues for their time, their energy and their passion for young children. They inspire me on a daily basis.

I started a project "Through the Eyes of the Child" in 2014 to explore how children could share ideas and reflect using the medium of photography. It is an ongoing project. It started with its own blog, but now I incorporate it here so that it does not consume so much time... in the end this is not a well designed blog... but an organic blog... and some day I might start spending more time on making it easier to navigate, but for now it is the children, reflection, listening, play and sharing those ideas as they come...

Of course I am a mother to three amazing children who teach me how to be a better human every day... and test me on it!! My girls, identical twins, are now 14, soon 15 and my son is 11. My son has autism/ADHD and has been a steep learning curve... but a curve that has enable me to be a better teacher...

listening has been an important part of my learning journey... and this year I have dedicated myself to learning more about listening and becoming better at it.

My connection with Canada... Ontario... Toronto... Diane Kashin... is a strong, important one for me... something that I value enormously... allows my brain to do pedagogical somersaults. My trip there in 2014 was the start of me feeling brave about giving workshops... the open, passionate nature the educators had that I met there was truly inspiring... and my friendship with Diane I am grateful for... her blog Technology Rich Inquiry Based Research is a treasure trove of reflection and inspiration for thsoe working in early years.. and education.
Diane visited me here in Sweden this year... and I will be going back to Ontario next year to take part in Rhythm of Learning in Nature #Rhythm2016.

back to thinking, reflecting... and the importance of not telling the children what to do... but scaffolding their learning so they find their own learning rhythm

I do have a Reggio Emilia inspired approach to how I am an educator... in the sense of listeing to the children, seeing the competence, wanting to explore the languages and learning styles of the children and myself and how all of this interacts... so much more that I can hardly explain here... but you can explore my posts to discover more...

I also see children for who they are NOW... and feel this is VERY important. I don't want to be thinking about what am I preparing them for, but how i can meet their needs now so that THEY can prepare themselves for the future.

gender equality is another important area for me... children deserve to be who they are, to feel important, to be valued no matter what their gender is... I have several posts exploring this. BUT it is not just gender... it is all areas of life... religion, sexual preference, culture etc etc...

of course I am also VERY grateful for having a husband that understands my passion of early childhood education... and allows me to take him to the children's area at the Expo2015 in Milan because it has been designed together with the folks from Reggio Emilia... this was on our romantic weekend away... like our first weekend away from the children in 14 years!!

And I would like to thank all of you who read my blog, give feedback, share the posts and use them as a seed to reflect... I hope your learning blooms and flourishes.