This month, we continue with our mini-series, exploring the potential of different resources and the learning possibilities that can result from them. As all Early Year Foundation Stage (EYFS) practitioners will know, the activity that you have carefully planned for, documented, set up and offered to the children is usually altered significantly from the original intention.

Children, of course, bring their own incredible imaginations and ideas to any task and one of the real joys of teaching such young children is that they stray from any set agenda and take you on learning journeys that you had not envisioned that are then meaningful to them. In turn, the learning outcomes are often so much more successful. Practitioners tend to over-plan, when the children themselves are so capable of leading their own learning, freeing staff up to stand back at times, so that they can observe and gently scaffold learning if needed.

We also need to give children independence. Too often, we under-estimate what young children can do and we over-intervene, sometimes stifling or even stopping learning, rather than extending it. Of course, this was not the intention; it can, however, be the result. We need to give children the time and space to explore the process, not just to ensure that there is an end result. The process is the key, not the product.

During this mini-series, I will be sharing with you some popular resources that are traditionally used in the early years.

Powder paints

This month, I am going to explore the possibilities of using powder paints. Powder paint is coloured pigment, which you mix with water in order to get wet paint. It is great for schools because it is child safe, gluten free, and highly versatile. It is available in many shades, including a fantastic fluorescent! Powder paints seem to be on the wane, however, in terms of popularity.

Ready mix paints seem to be more prevalent now in early years settings, mainly for their obvious convenience. However, ready mix paints do not provide nearly as many learning opportunities, nor promote independence, as powder paints do. I have tried to step away now from ready mixed paints on an easel and am encouraging a self-service painting area, where the children help themselves to the paint they need and mix the colours they want.

We also need to give children independence. Too often, we under-estimate what young children can do and we over-intervene, sometimes stifling or even stopping learning, rather than extending it.

Powder paints are also highly cost effective because you only need very small amounts of powder. Children are able to choose how runny or thick to make their paint. Powder paints, due to the fact that they are dry, have a far longer shelf life and literally last for years! One tub will last you months. You also only really need a few basic colours to get started and to create all the colours. A good starting batch would be the primary colours of blue, yellow, red, and then to also have some black and white. A note of caution about the black, however! Use very sparingly or it gets everywhere and every painting becomes a black sky!

The idea is that you allow the children to mix up their own powder paints, using water. How you set this system up is up to you, but there are some tried and tested methods you can fall back on – the one that I use can be found a little further below.

What can the children learn from powder paints?

There are so many learning opportunities that can arise from the children mixing their own powder paints. Mixing their own paints will aid the children’s fine and gross motor skills, through the WSPP (water, sponge, powder, pallet) method. This step-by-step process will assist the children’s hand-eye coordination, organisational skills, and their spatial awareness.

Understanding the world is encompassed by talking about how the powder changes when mixed with different amounts of water. Most crucial of all, the increased independence and sense of satisfaction the children will gain from being in control of their own mixing is immense. What better way to embody the all-important Characteristics of Effective Learning?

What do you do with the powder paints?

The most important thing that we are trying to encourage with powder paints is independence. To encourage this, we need to equip the children with appropriate tools to gain this independence. So, you will need to gather a few resources prior to setting up your ‘self-service painting bar’. This is what you will need:

• Powder paints in unbreakable sugar dispensers so that the children can pour their own paints out. To start with, I would suggest the following paint colours – blue, yellow, red, white, black.

• Water in plastic pump dispensers (such as empty hand wash dispensers).

• Paintbrushes with natural fibre bristles, such as hog hair.

• A painting easel with pegs to clip the paper to, or a large table for the children to paint at.

• Sugar or cartridge paper in different shapes and sizes.

• Small plastic containers or pallets in which children can mix the paints in.

• Sponges to dab the paintbrushes on between colours.

• Lidded paint pots with water to wash the brushes in.

• Paint colour swatch cards from DIY shops to display in your painting area (laminated) for the children to refer to, for matching possible colours that they would like to mix.

How does the WSPP system work?

The WSPP (water, sponge, powder, pallet) system is a simple discipline that the children can learn from very early on. They gain a visual/tactile memory of the paint mixing process and of bringing paint to life from scratch!

Possible learning activities using powder paints

It is clear that the children need time to just explore the powder paint. But, there are so many activities that can be attempted once the paints have been explored. This is not an exhaustive list, but may provide some starting points:

• Put out a tuff tray with little piles of powder paint, in the primary colours, with some plastic dispenser bottles filled with water, and let the children explore the paints with their fingers. Encourage the children to roll up their sleeves, put on an apron and get stuck in! It will be messy and it will be fun! Stand back and listen to the vocabulary and conversations that come from this fantastic exploration activity. A great opportunity to take some valuable observations!

• Try the above activity with different colours, such as black and white.

• Add sand to the powder paint and talk about the texture.

• Try painting pictures or making colours with powder paints thickened by PVA glue and washing up liquid. This gives a wonderful, glossy finish when dry. Add the PVA/washing up liquid mixture slowly while stirring it into your already wet powder paint mix.

• You can make foamy, tactile, sensory goo by mixing half a teaspoon of washing up liquid, a teaspoon of dry powder paint, and a teaspoon of cellulose powder paste, and then, slowly, keep on adding water until you get your foamy, tactile, sensory goo!

• Allow the children to mix their powder paint with shaving foam for a fun, puffy, experience.

• Put some glitter shakers in your paint self-service area and allow the children to add a glittery effect. You might like to add a pot of PVA glue so that the glitter sticks!

• Make sure you display the efforts of the children, with speech bubbles telling the reader about the process, in the artist’s own words. This also serves to show parents/carers/visitors how much you value the creative process, whatever the end result may look like!

Dip the paint in the water pot

• Press or dab in against the sponge/paper towel/cloth to remove excess water.

• Pour a tiny bit of paint powder from your dispenser in to your mixing plastic pot or pallet.

• Stir the water and paint together, and add more water if needed from your pump dispenser.

• Apply the paint to the paper.

The children will soon learn how to make the paint runnier or thicker, and how to add different colours and mix them together to make a particular colour – for example, yellow and blue to make green. How could you make your green lighter or darker? How can you make orange or grey?

Of course, at first, as with any creative process, there will be a great deal of mess. But children will learn another skill – self-regulation. They will also learn about clearing up after themselves, if expectations are made clear at the start and adults step back a little and allow the children to both make a mess and then clear it up, without constantly hovering and intervening. I do know this is easier said than done!

Conclusion

I hope that I have encouraged some of you to have a go at using powder paints rather than always using ready-mixed paints. What a fantastic resource and one where the learning opportunities and outcomes are infinite. Children are able to explore texture and demonstrate that they are able to go through a process, not just produce a pre-defined end result.

Process is by far the most important part. The end result may not look pretty but the thinking process, the perseverance, and the independence involved, make this a far more valuable activity than producing identikit adultled artwork.

Key points

• Children bring their own incredible imaginations and ideas to any task and one of the real joys of teaching such young children is that they stray from any set agenda and take you on learning journeys that you had not envisioned but are then meaningful to them

• We need to give children independence. Too often, we under-estimate what young children can do and we over-intervene, sometimes stifling or even stopping learning, rather than extending it

• This article explores the possibilities of using powder paints

• Powder paint is coloured pigment, which you mix with water in order to get wet paint. It is great for schools because it is child safe, gluten free, and highly versatile. It is available in many shades, including a fantastic fluorescent!

• Powder paints are highly cost effective because you only need very small amounts of powder. Children are able to choose how runny or thick to make their paint