Birth - 2 years

Painting with Worms

Age Group

This activity is suitable for children aged birth to 2. Depending on age and developmental stage, modifications can be made to the activity

Considerations

This activity should be conducted with small groups of children, ideally 4. At least one educator will need to be present.

Discussion

Begin talk about where worms live, what they eat, how they move.

Reading or providing books about worms, such as ‘The Game of Finger Worms’ by Herve Tullet and/or ‘Diary of a Worm’ by Harry Bliss.

Share images from famous artists with similar techniques. Talk about what the children may like/dislike about the paintings.

Then begin to introduce the idea of painting with ‘worms’.

Inspiration

Jackson Pollock 

Link to EYLF

Children are confident and involved learners

Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity.

Children are effective communicators

Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes.

Children express ideas and make meaning using a range of media

Objectives

For children to experiment with cooked spaghetti as a tool for art

For the children to explore and create with paint. 

To use their senses to explore and create

Resources and Materials

Cooked spaghetti

Nontoxic paint in various colours

Butcher paper or white A3 paper

Art smocks or old shirts

Flat trays

Activity

Modifications

Depending on the level of development and individual children, you may want to start talking about colour changing and mixing colours with the spaghetti.

For older children, use one strand, dip it into the paint and see what shapes the single strand makes.

For younger children, use this idea for a sensory play experience. The child can explore the feelings of the paint and the spaghetti and discover how they can manipulate this material.

Assessment

With this age group, it would be disadvantageous to assess the final product of the child’s. The focus of this activity should be the process of discovery and exploration the child goes through as they encounter a new art medium.

This learning experience would be an excellent opportunity for observation, whether anecdotal or running, and can then be converted into a learning story. It would also be a great opportunity to take photos and share this experience with parents.

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