Reflections on the Through the Eyes of the Child Prototype week.

Maybe not the most attractive of blog titles... but it is what it is... this is a working, living document of my reflections of the last week.

The children were divided into pairs... sadly one pair was incomplete as a child was away... this child left on their own was given the option of choosing a fellow Vinden member to take photos with or to do it on their own... on the day the child decided to proceed alone... and I am rather glad the child did this, as it gave me an opportunity to see what would happen if the children worked individually.

Each day a pair was given the task of taking photographs of what was important to them... this could be things, doings, happenings, friends - anything they thought was important. As I have just 8 children in my group at the moment this was something we could easily do over a week... and then on Friday have a reflection session together to analyse the images chosen.

The first day I was quite surprised at how the two children started to take photos of things... not things that I would have thought was important to them... but things that were in the room we were in the time and they were desperately looking round to find something important to take a photo of...
I limited it to five photos a day... this was from my experience of the project last time when they could take limitless photos and then could not manage the sorting process afterwards... and also to get them talking about how to make the decision about what photos to take. After all this is not a project about their photography skill, but a project to get them thinking, reflecting and dialoging about this together.
Of the five photos they had they took just one of their friends doing things... the rest seemed pretty random and did not reflect what I thought they would choose as important to them.

Just before lunch we sat down togethr and went throught the five photos - which one would they select as the one that was the most important. It did not suprise me at all that they chose the one with their friends. They also answered the questions why was this one the most important and why did they not choose the other photographs. The second question was of equal importance I found.

The next two pairs only took four of their five photos... this was because once they get playing they are simply not so interested in breaking off to take photos. I found for all four days I needed to remind the children if they wanted to take photographs. I had the camera.. and they came to me to take the camera to take images... so we are thinking of doing another protoype week with the idea of having a camera that can be around their neck, or some other solution to make the access more easy, and that I would not need to remind them. That it comes wholly from the children. Maybe then no photographs are taken... but I am interested in testing this out too.

The child that took images by themself took only one... there was no interest in taking more and no motivation of being in a pair to take more either. There was also the lack of dialogue that the other pairs had about how to take the photos... should they have 2 images each and share one... or should one make all the decisions and the other take... or...? Which I felt was an important part of the process. As well as when we discussed why we chose the one image and not the other, the answers they gave inspired the other and made the dialogue and the reasoning richer.

On Friday we looked at all the images. I had them on a powerpoint with the children's words. I read them as they looked at the images. First time to just see and listen. And then we looked again with the idea of discussing.

My children had a hard time focussing here. They seemed to enjoy their own image and words but showed less interest in those of others... A few comments and links were made before I pushed it completely over to the children and said... "now you need to talk together and decide which one of these images feels like the most important one of this week".

At first there was a little chaos and the children talked randomly... then one child said... "Its no good if you you just talk 2 or three together, we will never be able to make up our minds... we need to all talk together". And that is what they suddenly did.

it turned out that all of them but one liked one picture... I asked them to explain why... and also for the one child to explain why, and if on hearing this anyone wanted to change their minds... all of the children except two moved to the one child.

The two looked VERY disappointed. I pointed out that changing their mind did not mean that their photograph was more important... since their argument for their photo had been that it was important to remember because it happens just once a week (the bubble game) that the finding the sun-eggs in the forest game has happened just once so far made it maybe for this week even more important as so not to forget... after all EVERYONE had enjoyed it, including these two. This they could accept.

I told them that I had learned very much from the week about what was important to them, and thanked them.

It made me realise that more than one image per child/pair was not going to be viable for their concentration levels... so when it comes to the full week session that the pairs would need to choose one image a day... and then on Friday one image from the week to present to the others. It was definietly easier to reflect on the images with the pairs than with the whole group... and this is with a small group of max 8 children (one was away, so there were just 7 this time).

It is the process that matters. The feedback I got from the pairs and the dialogue I had with the pairs was very positive. I felt the Friday session was more chaotic... was it just because of their form that day? Well another prototype week would help me out on that. But on the whole I felt it was a very positive experience...a nd hopefully next time they will understand the process a bit more themselves and be able to dig deeper into their own reflections...

We will have to see.

The top right and the bottom left were the two most important for the group... the oranges being the image that in the end felt the most important for the group for this week.

Maths in the forest... Beskow's "Sun Egg" inspired.

The International Fairy Tea Party is next week and to get us into the mood for our Elsa Beskow "Sun Egg" inspired Fairy Tea Party we went on a sun egg hunt in the forest. I also thought that we could turn this into a maths in the forest session too... so ten oranges and two baskets were needed.

It gave us the opportunity to work out how many oranges were left to find, which basket had the most oranges which had the least... if one basket had three and the other had four, how many in total do we have...? The children were totally engaged.

While my colleague read the story to the children, sitting on the sun stone (a big rock in the forest bathed in sunlight) I hid the oranges. Most of them were on the ground, behind trees, in the blueberries or close to a rock... I tired to get them higher up, but the branches were just not working with me and the ornages kept thudding to the ground... I managed with one tree... just not the one in the photo - that one plopped out of the tree shortly after taking the image!!

 The children were eager to get going - and the first seven ornages were found fairly quickly - the last three were more of a challenge and the very last one even more so... the one up a tree. The children kept walking past it all the time. In the end I gave them some clues... and with some team work they managed to get it down from the high branch (easy for me, who is rather tall) but quite tricky for them.

The children then thought it would be a great idea if they took it in turns to hide an ornage for the rest to find. This went quite quickly except for one child... no-one could find it... despite clues being given. In the end we asked the child to show everyone where the orange was ... and the child could not find it again... it became a BIG mystery... where could it have gone... did some animal come and take it? So we decided to let the orange be and use another one for the last two children to have their turn... as we returned to the sun rock I suddenly spotted something orange... and exclaimed I could see it... the children rushed to my side, looked, and the orange was retrieved. We had a good laugh... it was exactly as the child said... behind a rock... there were just so many rocks in the forest!!

We shared two of the oranges... the rest of them were saved so the children could take a sun egg home with them.

Then there was just over an hour left for free play... the children dedicated their time to blueberry picking and eating... and tree climbing... lots and lots of tree climbing. We talked about surface... if the surface under and around the tree was hard and rocky then the children should not climb too high, as any fall would be bad... but if the area under the tree was soft and earthy then they could climb higher. We also talked about making sure the branches felt sturdy before putting their whole weight on them. The children learned a great deal about risk assessing today. They also challenged themselves with how high they could climb... there was a great climbing tree where one child climbed so high that she gained the attention of all the blueberry pickers so that EVERY SINGLE child felt the need to climb that tree...

"its a great view from up there"

There was also a swinging tree where the children hanged and swinged and did various tricks - lining up to take turns.

It was a good day in the forest.

Big portraits

Last week we used the photo portraits I had taken of the children as the base for the children to draw a portrait... putting plastic over the photograph and giving them a permanent pen to draw around the outlines.

Thsi proved an interesting task... not only to see how thir fine motor skills were doing, but also to see their language development... following instructions of drawing around the face and explaining how this could be done gave me a wonderful window into their language comprehension.

All but one enjoyed this task very much, this due to a child feeling his motor skills prevent him from producing the image in paper similar to that he has in his head... this time I did the task for him... as i knew this was just step one in a long series of steps and I wanted him to be able to participate in the rest of the steps in what will be a group piece of art.

Today we put the  plastic portraits on the overhead and projected them onto a big piece of paper on the wall (which I had divided into 8 equal rectangles). The children worked in pairs to draw around the outlines of the portraits.

The child that has struggled the first week, struggled also this week... but this week really tried to have a go - so it felt like progress... next week I am hoping for an even longer try and also I think there will be completion of the task... I am feeling positive about it.

Once all eight portraits were pencilled in on the wall we took out the back paint...

Again they worked in pairs to go round the outlines...

Until all of the portraits were completed

This was a much enjoyed project by the children... and the one child that received adult support was pleased with that support, is proud to share that fact with others and feels included. It always concerns me about how much should we help children... and when I know that they can... then they are given all the encouragement they need... but when I feel the encouragement will not support, but will be an added pressure, then I feel I need to change my tactic and just allow the child to feel included and support until they feel ready. Its a tricky balance, and I feel that knowing and working with these children for almost 3 years has allowed me an insight that hopefully has given me the knowledge to support this child in the best possible way.

All of the children recognise themselves and comment on how beautiful their own portrait is, so the adult help of this one child has not phased the other children at all.. they have complemented each other a great deal which has been wonderful to hear.

As we have been doing the "Through the Eyes of the Child" project this week, the children have been working in pairs to and taking photographs of what is important to them... one pair for each morning this week (it's prototype week - where I am testing it out). The pair today took most of their photos of this session, and their final image for the show on Friday was from the session - as "this was important" to them.

Next week we will start with colouring the background.

The portrait project links to our Leonardo Da Vinci project...

Books about fairies...

Here are some suggestions for books about fairies... I have not read all of them... but I am sharing a variation so that you can see what is out there... I am also thinking alongs the lines of sharing books that do not have a GIRL focus, but focus on children, play and imagination. I have linked to Amazon.UK - for ease, I am not endorsing Amazon in anyway other than living in Sweden this is the easiest way for me to get books in English...

How to find Flower Fairies

Freddie and the Fairy

Tooth Fairy

(because boys and girls like the tooth fairy to visit...)

What in the world are fairies?

What do fairies do all day?

Rainbow fairies

This is a whole series of 7 books (and there are other series by the authors... I have read these to BOYS and GIRLS and all have enjoyed the stories)

Fairy House Handbook

How to see fairies

This book is pretty good for allowing the children to see fairies in a new way... not just as pretty things, but as something quite different and ususual.



There is the Artemis Fowl book series, for older children than preschoolers... but most certainly fairies are there in a non too traditional girlie sort of way.

There is Peter Pan and the fairy/pixie Tinkerbell... and it does not have to be the Disney version There are many other versions out there... and that is what makes this fun.... challenging the children's conception of what fairies are... are they real, what do they look like.

We have had some amazing dialogues about whether or not fairies are real... the children presetning and defending their theories...

If you have any fairy books to recommend... then please share in the comments...

Fairy Portraits...

As a continuation of our portrait project we mixed in a little fairy (in preparation for The International Fairy Tea Party on the 18th of September... there is a FB page if you are wanting to join) - and also with a little Leonardo Da Vinci inspiration.

Instead of doing self portraits we set up the opportunity to draw each other... just like we had read in the book about Leonardo Da Vinci when he painted portraits.

The children took it in turns to strike a pose - learning about how the body feels when you hold a position for a long time, learning about how you need to keep still so that others can draw you. Those drawing learned how to observe the different positions of the body, and also to focus on their work so that their friends did not have to hold their position for too long for added day-dream time!!!

Once the children had drawn each other... they took their pile of portraits over to a table and then we added coloured wings... taking inspiration from the rainbow fairy books we read last year.

Once all the figures had wings we started cutting them all out - it was a hive of activity and I was surprised at just how long the children were focussed... I was prepared to have done this art session in two parts if necessary... but the children were totally into it.

Once all the fairies were cut out the children started to role play with them... which gave me an idea for the future...

The children then arranged and glued their fairies onto the swing painting background, which I had cut up into pieces so there was one for each child. You can check out the post on the swing painting here

Of course all fairy art needs fairy dust - so the children chose the colour of their fairy dust and with a sprinkle of glitter their fairy art was complete!!

Rainbow portrait

As there are new children in the other groups we left the atelier to do our first portrait of the year outside... I know the International Fairy tea Party will soon be upon us, so something magical seemed in order... not just a mirror to reflect how the children look, but something a little more magical...

The art installation not too far away from the preschool (it is located at the next underground station from us, but it is a walkable distance) was the perfect choice.

I packed the wooden wagon with pencils, paper, clipboards (of the homemade cardboard and clip type) and three small chairs.

I chose the children who had shown the least interest in doing the portraits to start first... knwoing that if these children started playing they would not want to make the transition to the portrait work... and also knowing that the other children would want to make this transition. It was the right choice... and ALL the children expressed their enjoyement in this activity despite expressing their doubts about it before we started...

One of the children that was in the starting trio was there to the very end, adding small details and paying close attention... each child was allowed the time they needed to draw and colour their portrait.

It was also a great way to observe how the children were holding their pens - which children were actually looking at themselves and not just doing a "typical person" on their paper. Which children had played close attention to the instructions (head and shoulders portrait) - although there were no comments made if a child made a full body portrait... at the moment it is about making observations... of learning about how the children listen, and how I need to proceed with my work to support them.
I have just one child doing a "huvudfoting" as it is called in Swedish (head-footer) where the limbs coming directly out of the head - the others who did full body portraits were drawing bodies, necks, shoulders etc as well... the two that did just a head and should portrait included necks as well as the shoulders.

Itwas interesting to see how the children used the paper... most seemed to use a small part of it, rather than embracing the whole paper - and started off small.. which might be the reason for why the portrait became a whole body portrait... to fill up more of the paper.

The coloured pencils were lined up on the ground for the children to take as they needed them... many colours could be found in the reflections and the children really enjoyed using the colours... imagination became a part of this and not just observation. One child arranged the pencils into a piece of art too...

It certainly is going to be interesting to watch this group develop their self portrait skills over the coming year. To watch them learn more about themselves, their abilities and also to experiment with various techniques...

I have learned a great deal from the portrait project from last year... which mediums the children enjoyed the most, which ones allowed them to experiment not just with the materials but also with ideas... and also which ones were too much of a challenge and needed more help from me than what I would have wanted as it was more tricky than I had anticipated... after all I am experiemtning with many of the techniques with the children... I am learning with them... and I always share that I am learning... so they know we are on the journey together.

Using photography as an art of listening

Communication is not just about words and sharing ideas… it is just as much listening and receiving ideas.
As teachers and adults we are often put in a position where our words have more impact than the words of children. Through the Eyes of the Child is a project that will allow us to listen to the children – maybe in a new way for some.
I have written about listening before The Art of Listening on Interaction Imagination  where I ponder about what listening is and what it means.  Philosophy with children is an excellent way to listen to children and their ideas, and also a wonderful way for the children to learn to listen to each other too.
When children understand they are being genuinely listened to, it will encourage them to speak more freely and share their ideas with others.
I personally work with pre-philosophy – helping children hone their skills of listening, concentration, creativity, expression etc to be able to participate in philosophical dialogue. I see taking photographs as part of this skill building…
Children learn to CHOOSE what the object of their photograph is going to be, learn techniques about how best to take the photograph and express their idea through an image – whether this is their idea of fun, of beauty, of friendship or some other deeper idea that they wish to share…
When they have taken photographs they will need to make a selection… which image most represents that idea… they need to compare and explain their thoughts as to why one photograph is better than another. If this is a group activity there might be the need to enter a dialogue as to why this photo rather than another should be selected… will everyone agree? Will more ideas and alternatives be brought forward that the children can listen to and learn from and maybe deepen their own understanding of the ideas… maybe even learning that the same photograph can represent different ideas depending on who is looking at the image.
It could be that an image that represents the MOST differences of opinion is the photograph that gets chosen – BECAUSE of the rishness of the dialogue that ensues.
It could be a fun/good idea to start discussions about photographs… by selecting a provoking image for the children to discuss, or to choose two photographs for the children to choose their preferred image and explain why. This can help the children learn to TALK about the photographs and also learn to LISTEN to each others’ ideas about them…

Here are some websites about children and/or play to get you and your children thinking...
where children sleep (bedrooms and toys are featured here)
happy children playing around the world
around the world - children and their favourite toys


Here are two photos to get you thinking too (found on pinterest)… it is just to go online and find images that can get you thinking… to get the children started in a dialogue.
This is not inspiration of the kind of photographs the children should be taking, this is JUST a way of practicing COMMUNICATION! It will be the children themselves that will decide the subect of the photograph… and afterwards they will need you to LISTEN to what their image communicates…