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“Strive to make everyday the best day of your life, because there is no good reason not to.” Hal Elrod

Jaime Bruce- The Joy of Art in the Early Years

Mar 30, 2020

Today on the blog we are joined by our wonderful guest blogger Jaime Bruce(Follow on Instagram here at https://www.instagram.com/jaybruce/. Jaime is an early years teacher from Australia who works in London. Her setting is play based, with a strong focus on sustained shared thinking, child-lead activities, and following individual interests.  Jaime 's guest blog today focuses on the joy of art. 

Walk inside the Early Years at my school, and the first thing you do is duck under the paintings and mobiles that hang from washing lines and “make-shift galleries” hanging everywhere. Head outside, and the chalk is in full use, the water colour paints are being liberally thrown at the prepared paper, and leaves and sticks are carefully lined up into patterns in the mud kitchen. The real joy of art in the Early Years, is that there is absolutely no definition of what really constitutes “art”. It permeates through every aspect of a child’s day: from a casual mark-make on the whiteboard of the...

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A Reggio Art Studio

Jun 27, 2019
I had the absolute pleasure this week of visiting one of my local Reggio inspired nursery settings and having a tour of the outdoor art studio.
 
The outdoor studio is set up in a wooden cabin on the beautiful forest school grounds of the nursery. I was greeted by their artist in residence which is known as a atelierista. An Atelierista is a teacher that traces a child’s discoveries through artwork, and working together they document and reflect on what is learnt. The cabin has a lovely light and airy feel to it with doors leading out into a decked area.
 
Twice a week the children in preschool (3-4 year olds) will have the opportunity (If they choose) to come and work in the studio.
 
There is space in the centre of room for collaboration and large scale projects. While around the room the different stations allow for creative freedom. With a station dedicated to still life drawings and painting (with many natural stimuli from outside), a tinkering s...
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