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I used leaves available in my garden to make a flute that produces very nice music. I folded the leave from the middle and blew into the hollow part as we blow into the flute. It produces a flapping sound like an actual flute because of the vibration of parts of leaves rubbing against each other. . This kind of flute is called leaf flute and is being used by many communities for a very long time.

Leaf flutes are used and loved globally, especially in South Asian countries like India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, etc. Most tribal people still use leaf flutes as musical instruments in their festivals and other occasions.

Connection to early childhood:
When we teach children about music, we also learn something with them. Wendell Hanna, in 2017, explained that the teacher as a co-learner must be open and should pay attention to the children's interests. She explained how we should prepare a studio to match children's interests and create an environment to make it feel like a natural place.

Implications for practice:
We can show children a video about different musical instruments around the world and encourage them to make an instrument from their own idea. We can teach them about different classical music in different countries. We can organize a scavenger hunt for them and ask them to find different materials in their surroundings that can be used to produce sound. We will teach children how to produce sound from leaves by blowing into the leaves. We will then encourage them to find bigger leaves that they can use to make a leaf flute.

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I played the leaf flute and it produced great sound when I blew into the folded leaf.

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Portrait made using flowers, leaves, spices, and water.

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Paint assemblage using flowers and leaves

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Paint assemblage using flowers and leaves

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The above portrait I made using petals of flowers and leaves available in my garden. I tried to cover the concept of using natural materials and the language of paint assemblage. I don't have access to an easel and used a table to create my artifact. I used ground coffee to make the trunk of the tree by mixing some water into it. I made flowers and tree leaves by rubbing the petals and leaves on the paper and provided a 3D look by sprinkling the remaining pieces on the artifact.

I was inspired to use natural materials for this artifact because if we encourage children to use objects available in their surroundings, that they see in their everyday life, it affects them intensely and they are familiarized with the properties of that objects (Gandini, 1999).

Connection to early childhood:
I think children should be taught to respect and engage with nature, as nature is the best teacher and art of God. It teaches us to help others without expecting anything in return. For children, Paint acts as both a verb and noun as it acts as something children think with rather than a material to enhance their skills (Ingold, 2011).

Implication for practice:
We can ask children if they love painting, which they definitely do. Then, we can encourage them to use natural colors to paint their artwork. We will show them how we can rub flowers and leaves on the paper to produce different colors. We will ask them to go into the garden and get their favorite flowers and ask them to try rubbing them on paper with and without using water to produce different shades of the colors. Under strict supervision, we can allow children to use spices to make different colors by mixing them with water. We can ask them to find any natural material that can be used to paint on the paper.

I used this artifact in my assessment 1 for this unit.

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Video of the process of making this artifact

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Video of the process of making this artifact

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This is the video of the process of making this artifact. I used iMovie software to edit, mix and create the video. The materials I used are ground coffee, turmeric powder, flower petals, leaves, and water.

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I used charcoal from the tandoor oven available in my house. Charcoal is basically a piece of burned wood that is dark in color and is very brittle. We use charcoal in our daily lives in India as many people use tandoor ovens to make bread which is very healthy as compared to bread made in gas ovens. I used charcoal as the material and encounter as the language

Charcoal was originally used for heating, painting, and drawing by cavemen around 30,000 BC. We can still find some old art in caves in many countries around the world.

Connection to early childhood:
Children are always curious to explore charcoal as it looks like a color pencil to them. They always want to try drawing with charcoal. Children are attracted to charcoal because of its prominent color. It is always incredible to see their first encounter with the charcoal.

Charcoal is greatly congenial to encounter with people. By touching charcoals, we are gesturing towards it. We always get hope by encountering charcoal, the hope to become open to ideas and thoughts, the hope for responding to the assemblage we are connected to, no matter what (Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw, 2016).

Implication for practice:
We can use charcoal available in the supermarkets for barbeques, or we can use natural wood charcoal available in some households like I used the same from a tandoor oven. We can provide children with a variety of papers such as plain sheets, cards, drawing sheets, etc. to draw their artwork on. We can encourage them to press the charcoal firmly or strongly to make different shades of black, grey, or dark grey.

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This is the final product I made using charcoal on plain paper. I used charcoal like a pencil color and drew painting on the paper. I made sun and birds in the sky to make the art more attractive.

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I made this mud monster because I personally loved to play with mud when I was a child. I got some wet soil in a bowl from my backyard and put some water in to make it thinner so that it is easy to paint using a brush.

Connection to early childhood:
Children love to explore mud because they don't think about getting their clothes dirty. I don't think there is any child who doesn't like playing with mud or clay. Children love to watch monsters on TV and they like to buy monster toys. They always scare each other by making scary sounds and saying "I am a monster". Mud or clay touches children back when they touch it. It reacts to their emotions and lets them explore it using their ideas and thoughts. Mud is incredibly adaptable as it can be painted with, sculpted, transformed, carried, shaped, etc. (Sylvia Kind, 2016).

Implication for practice:
We can provide children with artificial or natural mud. We can also ask them to make their own mud by mixing water into the soil. We can encourage them to use easels and mud to draw their art and wear aprons to avoid their clothes getting dirty. We can ask them to go on a treasure hunt to find materials to use in the artifact to make limbs and faces.

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I made a leaf butterfly using leaves, flowers, sticks, and glue. I made this artifact because, as per my own experiences from my placements, I think children love to play with insects. I used leaves and sticks to make different parts of the butterfly's body and used small sticks to make the antennae.

Connection to early childhood:
Children love art in their early life and are the most curious artists. Children love butterflies because they are colorful and delicate. Children are more attracted to nature as compared to adults. They love flowers, plants, leaves, etc., and are always happy to have one. In order to develop their intellects, children need the freedom to experiment with different materials from nature and explore (Freeman, 2011).

When I was on placement, I saw children picking insects with their hands and caressing them like a pet. They used to shout when they see a butterfly.

Implication for practice:
We must allow children to collect their own materials to make insects they like from natural materials. We should encourage them to pick colorful flowers of their choice. We can provide them with school-grade glue to stick different parts of insects with each other and on the card or paper. We can use a variety of different paper materials such as cards, drawing paper, sheets, etc. to perform their experiments of making insects.

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I made the artwork using charcoal powder. I crushed the charcoal into powder using a mortar and pestle. I did not use any brush or pencil to make the artwork, I used my fingers to draw on the paper. I started making shapes such as circles, lines, rectangles, etc.

Connection to early childhood:
Children act like scientists when they play with different materials. They are always ready to experiment with different forms of a single material. They love getting their hands dirty with chalks and charcoal. When children get access to charcoal, they always want to draw something with it on the walls or anywhere they can. But we should not expect a child to be an artist with the same skills as an adult artist. Playing with charcoal powder also helps children in enhancing their sensory and motor skills while experimenting with it. We should teach the children how to use their fingers for painting or brushes like an artist do. We can teach children all these techniques from the book of Ann Pelo, 2016.

Implication for practice:
We can buy charcoal from supermarkets or we can get used charcoal from barbeques and crush it into thin black powder. We can encourage children to use water to get a rich black color. We can use a brush to paint on the paper or children can use their fingers to draw shapes and letters on the paper.

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I crushed the charcoal into powder in a bowl and used plain white paper to draw shapes. I did not use water in the powder. The final product is a collection of different shapes such as circle, rectangle, dots, etc.

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I made the mud monster artifact using mud, water, brush, medicinal tablets, toothpicks, etc. I painted the body shape using mud and made eyes and nose using tablets. I made the lips and limbs using toothpicks.

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I would like to conclude my journal by explaining how natural materials are important in early childhood education. Natural materials are very easily accessible and almost free of cost. Children are more connected to nature than adults are. Nature is considered as the mother and the best teacher. Children are encouraged to learn about nature and foster their imagination, curiosity, and discovery. Natural materials enable children to develop their senses and be observant.

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Pacini-Ketchabaw, V 2017, Encounters with materials in early childhood education / Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw, Sylvia Kind, and Laurie L.M. Kocher, Routledge, viewed 10 March 2022,

https://discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=5e3b656d-7ed5-3aca-a137-5424e789e3c7

Topal, CW 1999, Beautiful stuff : learning with found materials / by Cathy Weisman Topal and Lella Gandini, Davis Publications, Inc., viewed 10 March 2022,

https://discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=447dd325-9a8f-35eb-81cc-c9a9bf2c068c

Pelo, A 2017, The language of art [electronic resource] : inquiry-based studio practices in early childhood settings / Ann Pelo, Redleaf Press, viewed 11 March 2022, https://discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=55dcd876-a221-3c31-a37b-d6ef73ff29a8

Hanna, W 2017, The Children’s Music Studio : A Reggio-Inspired Approach, Oxford University Press USA - OSO, viewed 11 March 2022 https://discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=e2eedde0-3678-36cb-8f32-4758047a9f86

Roy, DMS 2019, Teaching the arts : early childhood and primary education / David Roy, William Baker, Amy Hamilton, Cambridge University Press, viewed 11 March 2022, https://discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=5376b287-03d0-3688-bbe8-9a44020ac522