mark making area

[kimbo]

Hi

Can anybody tell me what sort of things they have in their mark making areas? we have just had feed back from our area EYFS, and they have said we do not have enough in this area, and some things that we do, should not be there, ie, colouring sheets.

we tried to justify having the colouring sheets, because we have noticed that with some children, if there is just blank paper there, they are not interested, whereas, if there are colouring sheets etc, they access the area???

Any guidance on this would be really appreciated!!

kimbo

[twinthing]

we have a multi media work station ( trolley) that contains
paper,card,tracing paper
magazines
envelopes
stencils
pencils, felt tips,crayons
cluesticks, cello tape and masking tape
clip boards, sticky labels and other stickers
a collection of scissors
we do have some printed pages....some children find white paper daunting ( but I realise that colouring or work sheets are not always appropriate
a variety of collarge resources such as feathers,pipecleaners, sequins,pom poms
we also have paint daubers ( paints in bottles with foam pads on the end)

we also have chalks and paints on easels and outside we use chalks and paints for large scale mark making....also pots of water with large paintbrushes is used outside
its also possible to encourage children to mark make using soft ware on the pc if you have a graphic design game or program...some children are not confident to produce a piece of work on paper but they may well do it on the pc! if you can print this its excellent for learning journals ect.
hope that helps.

[BalooTheBear]

We have a sheliving unit that has:
Paper (white and colored)
Notepads
Notebooks
Clipboards
Wipe boards
Envelopes
Labels
Sellotape
Gluestick
Hole puncher
Business cards
Sticky notes
Pencils
Coloured pencils
Chalk
Wax crayons
Felt tips
Magazines
Catalougues
Phonebook

[Heidi]

Originally Posted by kimbo

Hi

Can anybody tell me what sort of things they have in their mark making areas? we have just had feed back from our area EYFS, and they have said we do not have enough in this area, and some things that we do, should not be there, ie, colouring sheets.

we tried to justify having the colouring sheets, because we have noticed that with some children, if there is just blank paper there, they are not interested, whereas, if there are colouring sheets etc, they access the area???

Any guidance on this would be really appreciated!!

kimbo

You can make it more exciting and relevant by taking mark making to activities in your setting. You can buy some cheap notebooks or out of date diaries or clipboards with paper on and place these in the role play - well anywhere really. If you are a little worried about younger children marking walls and furniture - don't provide permanent markers, perhaps place 2 or 3 pencils and add more if needed, keep an eye on how they use them. Children who are at the stage of wanting to write/draw at the shops/post office/police station etc will be role modelling for the younger or less able. The children at the setting learn to respect property and know what they can and can't draw/write on. They children will often transport their books and pens around with them in their play and as long as they are doing so safely, that's fine.

If you give children a choice of different colours, texture and size of paper - perhaps in a shallow tray for them to delve it - make it look appealing and they won't even miss those standard colouring sheets and their drawing and imagination will really come along. Add different writing tools and experiences and the children will love the choice.