It’s no secret we’re continually searching for ways to make children’s learning visible. In an effort to broaden those ‘go to’ areas that children are naturally attracted to, we’re actively encouraging children to expand their thinking and ways of working. Perhaps by doing this, we can provide children with a new perspective, a new way of looking at things.
For some children drawing comes naturally and therefore it is an activity in which they often engage. For others, it is a yet to be discovered way in which to express themselves. For avid block builders, how would they see these three dimensional structures if posed with the challenge of drawing them in two dimensions?
“Um, I’m not gonna draw things made out of blocks.”
Our first attempt was met with some resistance…
Given the recent enthusiasm surrounding wire, we thought children may be more inclined to incorporate an element of drawing into this new work. In observing children, we’ve noticed that while experimenting with the properties of wire, children have more often been focused on the colors. Following this interest, we provided them with markers the colors of every piece of wire and asked them to replicate on paper, those pieces they created with wire. Children were more receptive to this. In fact, some chose to approach this activity from a different angle, drawing first and then duplicating their work in wire form. Suddenly those children that are typically less interested in drawing, abandoned their feelings of uncertainty and were found eagerly drawing a picture they could ‘make’ out of wire. Others, somewhat more confident with drawing, chose this activity as yet another way of honing their drawing skills.
It goes around, twist and right to the rock. Oh, look what I see – I see this coming to this. Oh wait a minute, that’s not purple. That’s silver – silly me.
