"shadows grow, shrink and suddenly disappear. They venture into places that you cannot go, they follow you around yet are very difficult to control. No wonder they are such a fascination for children."
"young children have their own range of criteria for moving things around and placing them somewhere else. In adopting an open-ended approach we allow children to explore the "100 languages" available to them."
"A large lump of clay is irresistible to most children and a great way to help extend their use of a spoken language. It offers opportunities to represent ideas, people and events which "makes thinking visible."
"Scribbles can look haphazard and are often initially made for the pure physical enjoyment of scribbling! However, with young children they can soon become products of systematic investigation or emotional expression."
Pebbles, twigs, feathers, shells, wood circles, seed pods, conkers, petals. Take the children out into the garden, the park or the woods to make their own fascinating collections. Fire their imaginations and yours with some of Nature’s treasures!
Look together at an abstract painting by a professional artist, eg. Kandinsky, Klee, Matisse or Miro. Ask questions like. "Which bit do you like the best?"; "What does it make you think of?" Then...ask the child: "choose some colours so that your painting makes friends with the one you looked at."
The Inspired Child’ set of books are a response to calls from teachers and early years practitioners for guidance in applying Liz Buckler’s unique approach to engaging children in creative activities that are empowering, engaging and tap into the child’s own store of enthusiasm for learning.
These simple, beautiful books represent a lifetime of experience and are intended to stimulate creativity within the parent, practitioner and child alike, without being too prescriptive.
