Every season has its own sights, smells and sounds and Autumn at the moment is giving us an abundance of sensory gifts. From the vast array of different coloured leaves, the glorious sunsets, the texture of different seasonal fruit, the sound of geese flying south, the sight of squirrels hiding food for winter and soon the smell of bonfires.
Giving children the opportunity to explore colour and manipulate materials encourages and supports their imagination and thinking process development. It also allows them to experience the world from different perspectives.
Over the past few weeks, the children have engaged in a range of activities that have incorporated colour matching, making a swamp for the dinosaurs, paint mixing, mark making, as well as exploring the textures and smells of our selection of knobbly gourds.
Interestingly studies carried out on the effects of colour on the brain claim that different colours can enhance learning in different ways. For example yellow can lift the mood and excite a child due to its vibrant appearance whereas blue can encourage creativity but if overused can bring the mood down in a room.
Knowledge of colours can be very useful to children as they make meaning of the world around them. For instance, knowing that red is a code for danger and the meaning behind traffic lights or understanding the difference between a red and a blue coloured tap.
Five little crayons colored a scene.
Yellow, blue, orange, red and green.
“Look,” said Yellow, “My sun is bright!”
Blue said, “Great! My river’s just right”
Orange said, “Flowers! I’ll draw something new”
Red said, “Great, I’ll add some too!”
“Sigh,” said Green, “I’m tired of trees,
And grass and bushes and tiny leaves.
I think I’ll draw a big green cloud!”
“A big green cloud should be allowed!”
The crayons all smiled and didn’t think twice.
A big green cloud sounded rather nice!