Mouth and Foot Painting

Our children have started an amazing inquiry this week that we were so excited to share with you! It all began last week when one of our children brought in some old calendars that had been donated to our program for use at the art center.  The children enjoyed looking through the calendars and were admiring the beautiful paintings.

Mrs. Bombardier and the children looked at the 'artist information' page to see who had created such beautiful work and were amazed to find that the artists had painted the pictures by using their mouths and feet!

The children were intrigued with this idea and wanted to know why this was and how the artists learned to paint using a different part of their body. Miss Waites helped us to do some research by using the Internet and Smart Board. The children were able to view videos of people painting in this interesting way!

Of course this inspired many of them to want to try this themselves, so Mrs. Bombardier set up two areas where children could explore.

One center encouraged children to attempt to paint using just their mouth - children had to hold the paint brush, dip it in colours, and swish it in water to clean it in between colour choices. Covers were placed on the brushes in order to prevent germs from being spread.

Another area encouraged children to try painting with just their feet!

Although we are always fans of art activities, what we loved about this inquiry is that is really encouraged our children to think beyond their immediate lives and perhaps appreciate another's perspective - hopefully creating empathy and understanding for people who may look or act differently that we do. We can't wait to see where this inquiry takes us!