Watercolor Exploration

It's been a great first month of school. We have been really busy getting to know each other, establishing classroom routines and figuring out what the interests of the children are for possible study themes.

We have been painting a lot with both tempera paints and watercolors. I personally love watercolors and decided to write about our watercolor exploration in this first post. The artwork is so pretty and there are so many opportunities for creativity and learning with watercolors!

On day one we used liquid watercolors, watercolor paper and paint brushes. At first children were offered just one color to work with and get familiar with the medium. Once they spend some time painting children were offered another color but most of them decided to continue painting with just one.

On day two we worked with liquid watercolors on paper towel using droppers. Children were practicing their fine motor skills as they pinched and let go the dropper to draw the watercolor into the dropper then pinch again to drip the watercolor onto the paper towel.

It took a lot of concentration and determination to learn the skill and even though it was not easy at first and children asked for help constantly they didn't give up and really enjoyed the activity! As they were working I encouraged the children to admire the colors and notice how they blend together on their paper towels.

On day three we went back to watercolor on watercolor paper. This time around children were offered couple of colors and were encouraged to use more than one. Most of the children went to town with their paintings mixing and blending colors, and  few decided to color the page with just one. We talked more about mixing the colors and creating new colors as they mixed two or three colors together.

To extend the watercolor exploration we offered colored water to play with outside in the sensory bins. Each bin was filled with different color and had tiny jars and buckets for children to play with.

Children filled one jar with water then poured it to the other jar, they used both jars at once to fill up with water then dumped the water back in to the bin. Some children filled tiny buckets with water from one bin and dumped it in another bin - mixing the colors!

In the afternoon children decided to add animals to the bins and used it for dramatic play; a girl put all the horses in one bin, a boy gave a bath to his dinosaurs.

Next day water was colored with glittered watercolors and children got to mix in black watercolor and watched it move around before blending in and disappearing slightly darkening the water. Again they mixed the waters between the bins creating darker colors.

We will continue working with watercolors and colored water, possibilities are endless and children really love it! Can't wait to see where will we take this study next!