Three year old Finny got creative with some snow art!

Resources

  • Watered down paint
  • Spray bottle
  • Pipette
  • Paintbrush
  • Spoon
  • Glue spreader
  • Spatula

Method

Finn started off with the spray. I recycled a household antibacterial spray bottle, but cleaned it thoroughly first.

He then trialled the pipette, paintbrush, glue spreader and spatula, before settling on the spoon.

As usual he managed to bring numbers into it by counting out spoonfuls.

He sang his rainbow song while scooping out the colours.

Finn decided it would be easier if he moved the pots in to rainbow order, so that’s what he did. “Look, this is better!”

He then moved on to pouring, while I questioned him about what happened.

As Finn sat back to admire his work, I asked him if he was happy with his art. He pondered for a while before deciding, “It is very good, but it needs one more thing!” He poured the contents of the spray can around the top before declaring it, ‘Perfect!”

He spent the rest of the day singing, “Sun, sun, go away, please don’t melt my art today!” to the tune at the end of, “It’s raining, it’s pouring.”

DfES Early Learning Goals (2017)

Communication and language

ELG 02 – Understanding:

Children follow instructions involving several ideas or actions. They answer ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions about their experiences and in response to stories or events.

ELG 03 – Speaking:

Children express themselves effectively, showing awareness of listeners’ needs. They use past, present and future forms accurately when talking about events that have happened or are to happen in the future. They develop their own narratives and explanations by connecting ideas or events.

Physical development

ELG 04 – Moving and handling:

Children show good control and co-ordination in large and small movements. They handle equipment and tools effectively.

Personal, social and emotional development

ELG 06 – Self-confidence and self-awareness:

Children are confident to try new activities, and say why they like some activities more than others. They are confident to speak in a familiar group, will talk about their ideas, and will choose the resources they need for their chosen activities. They say when they do or don’t need help.

Mathematics

ELG 11 – Numbers:

Children count reliably with numbers from 1 to 20, place them in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number.

Understanding the world

ELG 14 – The world:

Children know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things. They talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another. They make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.

Expressive arts and design

ELG 16 – Exploring and using media and materials:

Children sing songs and experiment with ways of changing them. They safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.

ELG 17 – Being imaginative:

Children use what they have learnt about media and materials in original ways, thinking about uses and purposes. They represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through design and technology, art, music and stories.