I recently read Susan Striker (author of the 'Anti Colouring Book series)' 's book 'Young at Art', a book discussing early art experiences for toddlers and preschoolers. Striker advocates for allowing children to explore materials in a progressive way, rather than trying to force young children to engage in representation before they are ready e.g. providing pre-formed shapes, stencils etc. It has made me reflect upon the kind of activity I am doing with my children and to consider avoiding the kind of known outcome that can result from some projects.
With this in mind, when I bought some plain t-shirt for my little ones to make their mark on, I avoided providing stencils or shapes of any kind to use, and just provided them with some suitable fabric paint.
Boo was mostly interested in mixing the colours together, whilst Boo Two was mostly concerned with preventing me from taking his photograph. It is hard to let go of the desire for a 'good' outcome, but really that satisfies only the adults.
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