A Learning Story: The Joy of Paint!

Capturing the process is more valuable than capturing the product.

When presented with a product such as the picture above, it can be difficult to see the learning that has occurred. Most adults are quick to respond by saying “oh how nice!”, “tell me about your picture”, “love the colors” but are making the assumption that not a lot of learning has taken place. The picture is cast aside and forgotten… have a look below at the pictures that capture the process of creating this masterpiece!!

Little Miss. K calls out “Look at the eyes, look at the eyes…yellow, yellow, yellow!!”

Little Miss. K: “The nose is red!!!” She moves the brush around and around, feeling the brush against the paper experiencing the circular motion as she becomes the artist.

She adds the mouth and begins to create hair, a representation of a face evolves… she squeals “look!!!”

Little Miss K. could have presented this figure as a finished product….but she does not stop there, there is more learning to be had! She then accidentally moves the red hair into the yellow eyes!!

Little Miss K.: “Orange!! Look teacher, red and yellow make ORANGE!!!”

With an abundance of paint on her brush, she begins to experiment with an arc motion over the eye. She moves the brush repetitively back and forth, back and forth lost in the movement. Again, she is connecting with the artist within as she now creates, “A rainbow!!”.

Before long the entire paper is an orangey red and yellow masterpiece. An ecstatic Little Miss K. leaps into the air and shouts, “Red and yellow make ORANGE!!”.

An artist is born!

Looking at the process we can celebrate the learning that has taken place. Little Miss K. has experienced the joy of scientific and creative discovery. She has learned that two primary colours can make a secondary colour. She has lost herself in the sensory experience of painting and her body is remembering the movements of an artist. She has experienced the sheer joy of paint.