Percy the Park Keeper colouring in pages

Why do you want to encourage colouring in - a low level activity!
Can't the children be more creative.....................................................................

 

well thank you for your supportive response. There are lots of other creative activities that i have spent most of half term organising for. But I know that some of my children enjoy using colouring in pages to create collages. I was just asking for some support and advice not a dig!!

 

Eeeeek, don't do it!
How about creating your own bordered paper using the theme of Percy for children to use as they wish - creatively? Publisher word art is very good for creating bordered paper or mini-books.

 

My email is jen-allen@hotmail.co.uk

Thank you very much. Look forward to your email

 

Hi livenkickin
When we did Percy and during our planning session with the children, one child said they would like to do tracing Percy and his friends as she her nan had bought her a tracing and colouring book. We gave them a wide range of Percy books that we were reading and the children traced their favorite character. While doing the activity the children began to colour in some of the pictures. During our normal chatter one girl said she would do a tracing for another to colour in. This led to the suggestion, by a child, that they photocopy their tracings and leave them on the mark making table for others. The whole process lasted for several days as the children really enjoyed preparing resources for others to use and the finished results were very popular. They even added extra bits to their pictures.
I hope you will concider doing your colouring pages this way as it was so much more than just colouring in.

 

Hi
Gald you raised this. Coming from England colouring in and work sheets in early years was so taboo. I am now workin EY's in Scotland and it seems to acceptable to the pionted promoted. When I challenge others about why and what do they hope to gain from it all I get is its fun. What is position of using such resources in scotland.

 

Child initiated unless the child makes the 'wrong' choice of activity????

 

The antis will say that you shouldn't have them lying around in the first place, in which case the children wouldn't be able to make the choice.

I'm not advocating colouring sheets as anything more than a quiet, gentle, pencil-grip aiding, sociable, activity that's [yes, and why not?] fun for many children. I've seen many children learn to take time to make things complete and acceptable to their eye through colouring. And it's a great activity to have available on wet Friday afternoons when the children are tired, fractious and unable to settle.
By the way, I take back what I said about superhero colouring sheets. I've seen boys whose previous relationships with pencils was a 5-second scribble before rushing back to the trikes, or whatever, take real pride in a carefully coloured spiderman.
Maybe not creative [unless you count choosing the right colour] but it has its uses.

 

Absolutely.

 

They'd probably end up colouring the border.

 

Nope they have never coloured the border :0)
The children I work with do all the things you say (concentration, fine motor control, sharing resources etc etc) but do so without colouring in sheets.
Oh well we can have them in our own classrooms, or not. It is clearly something we are going to disagree on but I have enjoyed reading your reasonings behind why you use them, I have always wondered!
:0)

 

Mumbo, I think there's a certain puriatanism of principles at work here.
It all comes back to my basic problem with the EYFS: we talk about play but only in terms of learning through play, which is fair enough. But in [many of] our hearts of hearts we don't really believe what we preach: that children really do learn through play.So we highjack play and re-name it 'learning' because that enables us to direct or structure orscaffold or whatever so that we feel like we're still in control.
And then we re-name 'learning' play.

 

sorry: puritanism

 

I loved colouring in when I was at school. Still do - I find it very therapeutic.

 

Me too.

 

Oh dear, this is a bit of a hot potato!

I have to say that even as an adult, I *love* colouring things in-and will sit with my children at home colouring in all together! We have a chat whilst we're doing it-it's all very calming and sociable! If one of your reception child 'chooses' (in a child-led stylee) to ask you for a colouring sheet-would you refuse as it's not play-based enough?

What's the 'current' view in EY on tracing, just out of interest? We used to do lots of this when I was at school and it was probably great for improving pencil control.

 

I suspect oldsters will have tracing stuff available for children to choose to do - but in a special box that is easy to put out of sight should an Ofsted inspector visit.

 

I would suggest they do it at home :0). If I knew they had the equipment needed to do it at home I would simply mention their wish to mummy. If they had restricted access to a printer at home I would print it for them at school and send it home.
Tracing - a 'no' to that too :0)

 

OMG!!! Yes we do tracing as well and it does help with pencil control...

 

I'm afraid I may be drummed out of the regiment at this rate!!!!!