Mark making is an important aspect of early childhood education, serving as a foundation to writing and a means of self-expression. In the Early Years, activities like drawing with crayons or painting with finger paints help children develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
By mark making we also supports cognitive development, as children learn about shapes, lines, and forms, laying the groundwork for literacy. Mark making also allows children to communicate their feelings and experiences, providing an outlet for those who may struggle with verbal expression.
Collaborative mark-making activities, where children have opportunities to draw and paint together enhance social interaction. Teaching children to share ideas and negotiate meaning helps promote language development. At Britannica we ensure children are exposed to different materials and opportunities for exploration, teachers can create a dynamic learning environment that fosters a love for mark making by building foundational literacy skills.
Although it has been a short week this week, the Early Years children have been very busy in their settings.
Reception continued their phonics review and were provided various opportunities to practice forming letters on different surfaces. They started exploring the story of "The Gingerbread Man," focusing on sequencing and breaking the narrative into four categories: character, setting, problem, and solution.
Nursery continued to explore a space theme, discussing the different planets and learning about their sizes and appearances. We had a wonderful time singing "5 Little Men in a Flying Saucer," with the children enthusiastically acting out the song and pretending to fly through the stars. Their creativity flourished as we engaged in junk modelling to create spaceships, transforming empty boxes, bottle caps, tin foil, and other materials into incredible spacecraft ready for exciting adventures.
Pre-Nursery made Brown Bear toast, practicing their chopping and spreading skills. Their favourite part was eating the delicious Brown Bear toast at the end! They also had fun transforming water into different colours and matching the Brown Bear characters with their corresponding colours, then using these to create a beautiful water painting.
