Getting to grips with paint

Our nursery children have been painting and exploring how to make marks using various materials. They have been dripping paint from their fingers, looking at what happens when they paint on cling film and creating large pieces of work as part of a joint collaboration with their peers.  

Painting is a great way for children to convey ideas, expresstheir emotion, use their senses, and explore colour, process and outcome. As welisten and observe, we may begin to understand the way that a child perceives theworld, their abilities, and their needs and interests.

Whether they are using two brushes or their fingers, young children are often only interested in the soothing process of painting - the pleasant feeling of painting over and over. It is this experience that we should encourage as it not until the child develops that they become more focused on creating representations and conveying ideas.