At Banana Moon we pride ourselves on letting our children have their own unique creative flow to their work and creations which are displayed throughout our environment and sent home with you too....

There are various example of the preschool years being flooded with crafts and product-driven experiences. But why?

- Do adults feel more comfortable with recognisable pieces of "art?" e.g. a perfectly formed snowman with eyes in the correct places and buttons in a perfect line down his tummy...

- Do we struggle to recognise the learning that happens though the open-ended individual art experiences and processes?

-  Are we driven by "cute" "perfect" products, even if that means the teacher does more work than the child?

When looking at the above reasons to consider, these adult led art works are completed within a much more limiting capacity. Why? Because the ADULT is doing more of the cutting, fixing, and perfectly arranging of the craft materials that they are getting more of the fine motor work than the children and even more experience than the children. 

However, when simply providing the children with materials and letting them explore, THE CHILDREN are the ones who can now cut, rip, attach, detach, pinch, paint, mark make, squash, etc. the materials. And because there is no end product in mind, there are no limitations as to how long they can keep exploring and exercising fine motor skills. Ultimately, they are getting a broader range of fine and gross motor skills, whilst taking part for a longer period of time. AND because it's open-ended, all children can approach and engage in the experience in a more INDIVIDUAL and ENGAGING way.

So what would you prefer to see? Individual unique art work picture reference number 1 or perfectly arranged picture reference number 2 - see image 

Why not give some free range craft a try at home? What will your child make?