Woodblock Print Making

Recently we have purchased woodcut-printing blocks to add to the resources available in our arts programme. These beautiful blocks are hand made in Rajasthan (India) by master carvers who create the intricate and precise designs by striking well placed chisels with metal bars. This ancient technique has remained unchanged for hundreds of years; it is laborious and intensive. Back at Kindergarten we are truly thankful for the artists/carvers time and effort, as the results for the print maker are absolutely gorgeous!

Printmaking enables children to explore different techniques and to see cause and effect in action more dramatically than with simply painting or drawing. What excites children into making print after print? Artist and author Ursula Kolbe (2007) believes that it is a seductive mix of physical action, expectation and surprise.

 

Each of these wooden stamps are a different size, shape and weight, and require the children to work purposefully with their hand actions to make a successful print. At first many of the children made quick stamp movements reenacting the same sequence for printing with a rubber stamp pad, however working with ink and woodcut stamps requires slowing down and precision; the children quickly discovered that by dabbing, pressing and pausing to hold the stamps on the paper for longer, clear and un-broken marks were left behind.

This thinking is demonstrated in Kate’s following explanation;

 “I’m going to hold this here (on the ink) for ten seconds; 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and then on my paper for 100 seconds! It’s gonna make the lines all black”

When children begin printing, they concentrate on mastering the action involved, and tend to print quite randomly. They delight in repeating actions to investigate cause and effect (Kolbe, 2007).

As their skills develop, children begin to organize, assemble and combine their shapes. Marcus used a stem-patterned stamp to create ‘borders’ around other images whilst Mason used the same stamp to create a series of repeated pattern.

One of the joys of participating in children’s print making (through the roll of an observer) is noticing the anticipation and often surprise as children lift the woodblocks from the paper surface to observe what is underneath. Printing is often unpredictable; you never quite know what is going to happen and the results are often not what you expect. It is a great reminder that for children the pleasure in making art is in the process of discovery and not generally the results.

Nga mihi

Kim

Nau mai haere mai, welcome to Kindergarten in 2014

Welcome to a fresh new year at Kindergarten. It is lovely to be back, to see all our children return relaxed and refreshed, and also to welcome two new tamariki and their whanau - Zayne and Ngaio.

Our blog is a great way for everyone to see the programme and curriculum we offer at Mairtown Kindergarten. With each weekly post we focus on the children's learning, their ideas and inspirations; it is an excellent forum for gaining new knowledge and understanding about your children's learning at Kindergarten, and the value of early childhood education in general. So, remember to check back weekly for our posts and updates, we also love to hear any comments you may have - or even some suggestions - don't be shy, we really do love your thoughts and input!

Christine

Making Connections with Nature

One of my professional development goals over this last year as a teacher was to write an article, with the hope of having it published.

A passion of mine, and of the other teachers at Mairtown, is the environment that we provide for our attending children. The environment both inside and out should be carefully planned to engage children, to develop their curiosity, to develop their imagination and sense of wonder, ideally all within a nature based framework and curriculum.

I just wanted to share with you the article I wrote titled 'Making Connections with Nature', which I am excited to say has been published in both 'The Space' magazine and the most recent edition of 'The Education Gazette'.

Here is a copy from 'The Space' for those that may like to read it :)

 

Merry Christmas and a happy new year,

Christine

End of Year Celebration Picnic

Amazingly, we have reached the final week of kindergarten for the year, before our Christmas break.

To celebrate the past year, the achievements of our children and contributions from our whānau, last Thursday we held a picnic party at Mair Park.

It was glorious summer weather and so wonderful to see everyone relaxing, families catching up with each other and children playing. Many children arrived in some spectacular fancy dress outfits. What a great effort everyone!

For a bit of fun we also organised some traditional games, an egg and spoon race, sack race and my personal favourite the hula-hoop challenge!

 

We also had a treasure hunt amongst the trees and bushes. It’s great when it's treasure you can eat!

As a little surprise Mr Whippy visited us and handed out delicious cones of ice cream to the children. This was a lovely cooling treat for our hot afternoon, and as Kate told me, “This is just what I needed!”

We finish for the year this Thursday the 19^th December and will return next year on Wednesday 22^nd January. From all of us at Mairtown we wish our children and families a Happy Christmas – enjoy your well-earned holidays. I’d also like to say a huge thank you to all our families and whānau over the year for your help at Kindergarten. All your help - no matter how big or small - is really appreciated and makes a big difference for us as a teaching team. We couldn’t do it without you all!

Finally, good luck and lots of success to our children who are leaving us for school. Although we will miss you all, we know you are all ready for this next step in your education – haere rā! 

Ngā mihi o te Kirihimete me TeTau Hou

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Nga mihi,
Christine

My Happy Place - Inspired artworks from one of the books of the year

Early last month I purchased a copy of the book ‘My Happy Place’, compiled and edited by Melissa Melbus.

My Happy Place is a book that features memories and happy thoughts from 54 prominent New Zealanders and is illustrated by children aged 5 – 13 years, from partner schools of the charity KidsCan.

The KidsCan charity was founded in 2005 and today supports the education of thousands of disadvantaged New Zealand children. Dr Airini from The University of Auckland states that “as many as 25 percent of New Zealand’s children – about 270,000 – currently live in poverty. That’s one in every four children” (2013).

The KidsCan mission is to meet the physical and nutritional needs of Kiwi kids less fortunate than others so they can be more engaged in their education and have a better chance of reaching their potential in life. KidsCan concentrate on giving the basics directly to children in need in partnership with the schools they attend, including food, shoes, raincoats and healthcare (KidsCan Website).

Melissa Melbus refers to the inspiration behind the creation of this book as a ‘reference book of happiness’ for readers. The principle goal of the book is to donate proceeds from sales back to KidsCan, thereby helping New Zealand children living in poverty reach their potential in life.

It’s a stunning book, colourful, heartwarming and full of joy and inspiration. Each page tells a different story and is complimented by a child’s illustrated interpretation. Last week I sat with a small group of children to read and discuss My Happy Place. As you can imagine the concept quickly captured their thinking. Thoughts about things that make us happy, and are close to our heart flow easily for children (for further reading refer to Christine’s earlier post, A map of my heart). With the right provocation and resources these thoughts were again transferred into artworks.

In the lives of children and ourselves art invites us to look closely, to ask questions, to take new perspectives, to explore emotions, to examine thinking, and to communicate and listen (Ann Pelo, 2007).

Inspired by Melissa’s prompt for her contributors to the book I asked our children:

 “What is a happy place for you, something that makes you smile or fills up your heart with love?”

Here are a few of their reflections…

 

“My happy place is the pools because I can swim there with my mummy. I hold round my mummy’s neck and she swims with her arms in the coldy pool” Kate

 

“My happy place is going to the farm park. I love patting the animals. I love the guinea pig best; it’s fluffy and warm” Taika

“My happy place is going to the beach. We jump on the rocks and we find crabs under the rocks. We take the crab’s home; they are already dead when we pick them up. I like going to the beach with my family” Emma

“My happy place is when I play with my brothers and sister. Our favourite game is playing eye spy on the computer” Claudia

 

"My happy place is riding my bike. My bike looks pretty because it has a basket on it, and it has a babies seat for my bubba to ride in. I ride my bike outside and inside too" Madison

Friedrich Froebel, the father of kindergarten, believed that young children should be involved in both making their own art and enjoying the art of others. To Froebel, art activities were important because they encouraged each child's "full and all-sided development" (Froebel, 1826). More than a century later, early childhood teachers are still concerned with the "all-sided" development of each child. Our curriculum includes activities that will help children develop their cognitive, social, and motor abilities. As Froebel recognised, making art and enjoying the art of other people and cultures are very important to the development of the whole child (Englebright, & Berry. 2008. Earlychildhood News)

“My happy place is home because my mum is really lovely and my dad and my sister. I play toys, and I play lego’s at my house” Eirwin

 

"My happy place is when my mum reads me a book at night-time. We sit on my bunk bed and I love reading the Little Yellow Digger" Hori

 

“My happy place is seeing my nana. I go to her house and play toys. My granddad makes porridge, I have sauce and salad with it”  Tane

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“My happy place is my family. I love my mummy and my grandma and my nana and dad AND! Oscar, Amelia and all of my cousins. I have 1, 2, 3 cousins” Livia

“My happy place is going to life-saving. We play Captains coming and I ride on my boogie board in the water” London Rose

“My happy place is going to my house. It doesn’t have a pool just grass and a house. I like playing with my toys.

When it’s dark I get my blanky and I snuggle with it and my mummy, she sings me a lullaby” Hezekiah

It is interesting to note that  the children's reflections of happiness almost always focus on feelings and experiences. These are a timely reminder to us that it is not things, but people and places that fill our hearts with gladness and joy.
 In the foreword of My Happy Place author Witi Ihimaera acknowledges that through aroha children are able to connect art with life. One of my great privileges of working with young children is being able to tap into this well of love and generosity everyday.

Catriona Williams (My Happy Place, pg. 33) captures this thought beautifully when she states, “Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but by the moments that take your breath away”.

My Happy Place can be purchased online at; shop.mhappyplace.com/‎ or check out a leading bookstore.

Nga mihi nui

Kim