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Health Benefits of Colouring for Adults
Beaumont.org
https://www.beaumont.org/health-wellness/blogs/health-benefits-of-coloring-for-adults

Jasmine Kaur
Clay Modelling For Kids - Parent circle
Parentcircle.com
https://www.parentcircle.com/article/educational-benefits-of-playing-with-clay/

Shibboleth Authentication Request
www-taylorfrancis-com.wallaby.vu.edu.au
https://www-taylorfrancis-com.wallaby.vu.edu.au:4433/books/9781315743257/chapters/10.4324/9781315743257-1

Benefits of Puppet-Play for Children
OpenSchoolbag
https://www.openschoolbag.com.sg/blog/benefits-of-puppet-play/

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I have chosen to explore 'shadow puppets' with light. The reason for choosing shadow puppets is that this was one thing I can remember doing in my childhood at kindergarten. This is a very fond memory from my childhood as it was always so much fun whilst having everyone involved and sometimes putting on a show improving a child's convince and skills.

Some benefits of shadow puppets include of:
Stimulus Imagination: Encouraging the child’s imagination and creativity. Children can come up with their own stories involving their shadow puppets, from giving them names and to elaborate scenarios. With puppets, the play becomes more personalised and fun, with the ability to manipulate them, move their limbs and head.
Emotional development: Sometimes kids are shy and withdrawn. In such cases, the puppet becomes a “friend” that kids can express their feelings to, without the discomfort.
Improves motor skills: When using fingers to move the puppets, your child improves his fine motor skills (small actions such as picking up and holding objects). This way the child is able to learn which finger he needs to wriggle in order to make the puppet’s arm or leg move. What a way to coordinate brain-hand coordination!
Boost confidence in speaking and reading:
Kids may feel shy reading or speaking out loud in front of their peers or parents. When this happens, they are more willing to do so in front of their puppet “friends”. As they create stories with their puppets, their language skills also improve. They learn to construct sentences and find words to describe the elements in their storytelling.
increases group participation:
In a group setting, be it among siblings or classroom, puppets can be used to increase the participation level of children and add an element of fun. Kids get excited when a new toy is introduced and teachers can allow them to create stories or express their feelings about a certain topic, using their puppets.

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whilst exploring clay I decided to create a memory from my childhood. The clay creations I have created are two girls. This creation of the two clay girls can be a representation of my friend and I as children playing.
Benefits Of Clay Modelling:
whilst playing with the clay I loved the feel of the texture on your hand and I found that creating these objects with clay was soothing and relaxing.
improves hand-eye coordination skills: Hand-eye coordination is a neurological process where the visual input provided by the eye is used to guide the hands in performing a task.
encourages trial and error: Everyone makes mistakes, especially in the process of learning something new. Sometimes, these mistakes can be discouraging, especially if they are hard to erase. But, when it comes to working with a lump of clay, you can easily correct the mistakes. It’s easier for you to learn and keep trying new things when we know that clay modelling mistakes don't have to be permanent.
encourages play base learning: Play-based learning centres around guided play. In such play, children are still in charge and spontaneous, as they would be in free play. However, parents/educators also actively participate by curating the environment in such a way that the child can learn the intended lesson. This type of learning also comes under the umbrella of activity-based learning.

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Through exploring paper I decided to do some colouring. Using pencils I coloured inside the lines of the daisy chain. I wanted to colour in a daisy chain as daisy chains were a great memory from my own childhood I recall often making daisy chains in my backyard.
A reflection of my interactions with paper/colouring:
Whilst exploring the use of paper I have discovered that the use of paper can be a great way to express yourself as well as relax and ease anxiety. After further research i have discovered the many benefits of adult colouring, which are included of:
- Reduce anxiety and stress: Colouring has the ability to relax the fear centere of your brain. It induces the same state as meditating by reducing the thoughts of a restless mind. This generates mindfulness and quietness, which allows your mind to get some rest.
- Improve motor skills and vision: Colouring goes beyond being a fun activity. It requires the two hemispheres of the brain to communicate. While logic helps us stay inside the lines, choosing colours generates a creative thought process.
- Improve sleep: We know we get a better night’s sleep when avoiding engaging with electronics at night, because exposure to the emitted light reduces your levels of the sleep hormone, melatonin. Colouring is a relaxing and electronic-free bedtime ritual that won’t disturb your level of melatonin.
- Improve focus:
Colouring requires you to focus, but not so much that it’s stressful. It opens up your frontal lobe, which controls organising and problem solving, and allows you to put everything else aside and live in the moment, generating focus.

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Junk can be considered as old or discarded articles that are considered useless or of little value. Although as the staying goes 'one mans trash is another mans treasure' and I believe that statement can be shown to be incredibly true here, as I have created a mask out of an old unwanted egg carton, adding paint for decoration and stapling string  to the outer sides to be able to be worn on your face.

Through the in class readings; Encounters With Materials in Early Childhood Education it states 'In the early childhood classroom, educators and children gather around materials to investigate, negotiate, converse, and share.' I believe this can be greatly shown through the use of using recycled materials to create fun activities and objects. The reading also stating that 'thinking with materials transforms early childhood education, provoking educators to notice how materials and young children live entangled lives in classrooms, how they change each other through their mutual encounters.' Therefore using these 'unwanted junk' as great materials for art this can have benefits for the children in the classroom.