Exploring Colours and Marks through Paint

Through painting, children get the opportunity to express their ideas and feelings as well as to explore the effects of moving the brush in different ways and the appearance of different colours and combinations of colours. You can see good coordination here. Holding a brush involves fine motor skills and sometimes you need to hold the paper steady too. There is an interesting range of marks from those made by blobbing the brush on the paper to those made by moving the paint so it covers the surface. Children can make their own decisions when painting and also organise themselves to start a piece of work and then follow through the steps needed. This kind of activity is helping them develop something we call executive function. This is the way in which our brains let us do things like plan, focus attention, and remember instructions.