In June, in the preschool two room, the children have been showing their interest in making various kinds of art. They ask for the scissors to cut and ask for envelops for their pieces. They ask for the glue sticks and various materials to adhere them to their creations. They talk about colours; the colours they like; the colour of the toys and the colours of their clothes, and if they match. In June we also celebrate Pride month. During our professional development day, we received some new children’s books about Pride month. One of them takes about the Pride flag and what each of the colours mean. When putting all these things together, it inspired me, and support staff Harper, to create an art experience for the children where they got to make their own flags.
Harper and I took turns reading rainbow book of colours, called Our Rainbow, to three groups. As we read the children could see strips of all the colours of the Pride flag on the art table. As they listened some of the children would point out the colours on the table, showing colour recognition. They also would show identity formation when they shared their love or care for a particular colour. While listening to the book, Theo asked what diversity meant, showing his interest in vocabulary, and I explained how it is about having value and respect in how we different. When I read that red was about life, Nina noticed the lady on the front that looked “happy in her red star dress.” Ben said it looked like a Canada dress. Colin B saw the scissors on the orange page for healing and thought that was funny. The yellow butterfly and bee, representing yellow for sunlight, was noticed by Finley and Eliya with excitement, pointing at and voicing what they saw. Fox said he liked the “big trees” that showed how green stood for nature and Birdie pointed at the friends about to hug on the next page, blue is for harmony and asked for a hug from me. Purple is for spirit and Nina loved how the page showed “the big yellow shooting star was coming out of all that purple.”
After listening to the book, the children received a black rectangular piece of paper and were asked to make a flag of their own. Each child got to show their unique understanding of the colours and how they related to them, showing their individuality and uniqueness as people. This helps create a sense of identity. As they worked, they shared the materials, passing them to their peers who couldn’t reach or who asked for a specific colour. They placed their colour strips where they pleased, showing creativity and the powers in expressing choice. Eliya and Nina went off their black base paper right away, gluing their multi colours of strips off to the side, while Arius glued his yellow strip right in the middle and completely centered on his. Maddie and Birdie put their multi coloured strips in repeating lines, like the flag they saw, while Theo, Zander and Finley crossed theirs. Antonio, using all red, Nina, multi colours, and Charlotte, pink and yellow, used a circle pattern that took me a while to place. Then Nidya pointed out the same pattern on the flowers she had made with the children a few weeks before. This shows learning and repetition in the children’s artwork.
During this experience the children showed their interest in literacy, art and self-expression. They all made unique pieces of art, and although creating art is so much more about the process here, they all showed pride in their final products.
