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Head’s blog

The wisdom of woodwork and the power of paint

This week at Grimsdell we have had a healthy injection of arts, crafts and carpentry with the commencement of our woodwork programme within the curriculum.

Woodwork is one of those really special activities that truly engages children and encompasses all areas of learning and development. Children really respond to the challenge and very much enjoy the natural and intuitive experience of working with wood and real tools.

There are two areas that woodwork can really enhance.  First, it develops children’s self-esteem and confidence as it is so empowering for children to ‘create’ with real tools and they take great delight in their achievements – it really develops a can-do spirit. In addition it develops children’s thinking skills –their creative and critical thinking is required as they problem solve and express their imagination through wood – which is not always easy to work with!

The children’s creations are always such a joy to see but the real product is the change within the child! As children work with wood they are learning skills that will empower them to shape their world – encouraging them to become the innovators, inventors, makers, sculptors, tinkers, engineers and architects of tomorrow!

To complement this we also had our visiting art specialist working with our children to create pieces of art within our Wild and Wonderful theme. They have used a powerful combination of ink, pastels and paint to create a layered effect providing a unique background for their red eyed tree frog. Just as we see within woodwork, it is not just the finished product, but the process of creating art that is particularly valuable for children, as they shape and define their own pieces of work. I hope you enjoy the many photographs depicting this.