People often think that activities like drawing and painting are solo activities.
But great learning happens in small groups. Children learn from each other. Working together also helps children learn about team work. They also get inspired by each other. There is often a sense of calm when you see children working in a small group as they are supporting each other and sharing their successes.
A great activity to do in a small group is Collaborative Drawing. This is where a group of children draw a picture together on the same big piece of paper.
Collaborative Drawing can be done a couple of ways:
1. You can put a huge piece of paper on a long table and put a few different drawing materials out - texts, crayons, pastels and pencils and each child can contribute to the drawing individually, drawing whatever they want. Here is an example from one of Lynda's Kinder Classes:
2. The children can take turns adding to each other's drawing. Kate and Lynda did this one day.
A nice extension of both activities is to talk to the children about their drawings and write down their thoughts. Remember not to ask them "what are you drawing" but ask them "tell me about your drawing" instead.
This type of drawing activity teaches children that the process is more important than the product. That a drawing doesn't have to turn out a certain way. There is no right or wrong.
TASK: Set up a mini collaborative drawing experience at home for you and your coach. Maybe put on Mamma Mia 2 soundtrack as the background music. Draw together and see what comes out. How did it make you feel to draw together? Did you learn anything new?
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