Webinar: Enabling Approaches for Thinking with Materials

Enabling Approaches for Thinking with Materials

Part 1

Materials found in our early years settings such as paper, paint, charcoal, card, clay, Lego and many more are all materials awaiting transformation in the hands of children. Whether we are actively selecting and making creative invites or creating open and accessible areas where plentiful materials can be found, just what is it that sparks that movement from exploration of that material to one that becomes an expression of an idea? Or, when does that material offer up its own potential for transformation by the child? When children think with materials, creativity, possibility and critical thinking as well as cognitive processes characterise the learning experience. Debi will enable participants to discover the affordances and agency that simple, everyday materials can provide so that we can reclaim the arts as a mode of thinking and learning and refresh our practice with new ways of presenting and inviting thinking with materials.

Part 2

Following a short gap task, participants will reflect on how their roles as educators can support and promote thinking with materials. We will discover how we can put everyday materials into a kind of conversation with ideas, concepts and the children’s own enquiries. Together, we will explore how we can enrich creativity, possibility thinking as well as cognitive processes by moving from being a provider of materials to one of curating and designing contexts that amplify the thinking and creative expression that our young children are capable of communicating. When we create contexts that are generative and supportive of children’s curiosities, then the arts become languages of investigation and communication. In this way, we are not reducing or capping EAD to exploring, performing or merely imitating the ideas of others but, instead we are reclaiming, reframing and refreshing both the arts and creativity and defending our practice to honour the child who can think, express and create ideas of their own.

Those attending Part 2 will be invited to submit questions ahead of time, and where possible these will be addressed during the session.

The webinar will take place on the following dates and times:

Session 1: 26th November, 7pm-8.30pm
Session 2: 10th December, 7pm-8.30pm

Trainer: Debi Keyte-Hartland

Fees and Booking

£30.00 for members

£40.00 for non members

For more information and booking please visit the dedicated webpage