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In the artefacts, I am using natural materials like paper, clay, charcoal, paint, light and music to explore movement, ecology, assemblage, and encounter through artistic languages and materials. Since it is obvious that creative arts and materials are activities that participants in creative learning, I will share my encounters in this digital voyage. With a variety of artefacts and artistic endeavours, then talk about the connections to literature and research in early childhood education, and last reflect on how my creative learning and understanding can be mirrored in early childhood settings.

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Overall I have learnt that there are so many languages or ways that a child can express themselves. Each child has got something unique that he/she expresses through their artistic skills. Personally, I enjoyed assemblage and painting along with deep listening, making shapes in sunlight to form different shadows was fun. However, each child has their own encounter with all the natural materials and whatever they feel, touch, and see is different from what we as adults do. I would say, letting them explore the natural materials on their own is the best way rather than giving them instructions on each step and what to do. This hinders their potential as each child is a capable and competent learner.

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PERSONAL ENCOUNTER AND ARTISTIC EXPLORATION

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PERSONAL ENCOUNTER AND ARTISTIC EXPLORATION

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When we glance around, the world is awash in colours. Everything in our surrounding environment is colourful, including the sky, the terrain, and everything from flowers to birds. When we consider the idea of painting in a context for early childhood education, we feel something. Children express their sentiments through painting. A multitude of emotions are present during a child's first encounter with a paint colour. Many ideas and concepts are examined, experimented with, and touched by them. As time passes, paint changes in a number of ways, including smoothing, hardening, slicking, and drying. I have made an effort to play around with the paint using the idea of assemblage in sight. The interaction between living and non-living entities is called an assemblage. (Pacini-Ketchabaw et al., 2016) I used a wooden stick, sponge, and paint on paper and I was amazed at how each thing had its own impression.

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Pacini-Ketchabaw, V, Kind, S, & Kocher, LLM 2016, Encounters with Materials in Early Childhood Education, Taylor & Francis Group, London. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [15 April 2023].

Oliveros, P, 1999, ‘Quantum Listening: From Practice to Theory (To Practice Practice)’ from https://s3.amazonaws.com/arena-attachments/736945/19af465bc3fcf3c8d5249713cd586b28.pdf

Edwards, C, Gandini, L, Forman, G, & Reggio, CS (eds) 2011, The Hundred Languages of Children: the Reggio Emilia Experience in Transformation, 3rd Edition: The Reggio Emilia Experience in Transformation, ABC-CLIO, LLC, Westport.

Roy. (2019). Teaching the arts: Early childhood and primary education. Cambridge University Press.

Topal, C. W. (1999). Beautiful stuff!: Learning with found materials. Davis Publications.

Mahshulah, Z. A., Syaodih, E., & Rachmawati, Y. (n.d.). The Ray of Light: An activity approach of Reggio Emilia. International Conference on Elementary Education. Retrieved March 10, 2023, from http://proceedings.upi.edu/index.php/icee/article/view/687

Kang, J.(2007) How many languages can Reggio Emilia Children Speak? Many more than a hundred! by Jinju Kang. Gifted Child Today, 30(3), 45-48

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PERSONAL ENCOUNTER AND ARTISTIC EXPLORATION

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PERSONAL ENCOUNTER AND ARTISTIC EXPLORATION

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Reggio Emilia's central core principle—which I learned about through the module courses—is that every child is capable of expressing themselves in a hundred different languages, including music. I made the decision to attempt new things in order to explore my creative side and the ability of music to give children a voice and a way to communicate how they feel about the world around them. I made this choice purely out of curiosity and unrestrained intuition. Along with music, I came to know about deep listening and its benefits. Listening means being open to differences and recognizing the value of another’s point of view and interpretation. “Changing or erasing restraining limits is made possible by deep listening, which helps us to go beneath the surface of our consciousness.” – (Pauline Oliveros, 1999)

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PERSONAL ENCOUNTER AND ARTISTIC EXPLORATION

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PERSONAL ENCOUNTER AND ARTISTIC EXPLORATION

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In the artistic exploration of light, I decided to do an experiment with sunlight with different items. I remember in my childhood when I used to face the sun, my shadow would be on my backside but when I did back towards the sun, my shadow starts running in front of me as I run. It was like two people doing the same stuff at the same time. This time as well I put certain things in the sunlight in different directions and some of the shadows were bigger than their actual size, while on the other hand, some were smaller than their actual size. In Early childhood education, the use of light fosters children's curiosity to explore more. (Kang, J. 2007) Despite appreciating the finished piece, I realised that the true pleasure of this activity rests in the creative experimenting. Through interactive play with natural and synthetic materials in light, this process-driven art project helps my inner child comprehend light, transparency, and opacity.

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PERSONAL ENCOUNTER AND ARTISTIC EXPLORATION

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Clay is a material that can be used in various ways. When I first thought of clay, the first thing that came into my mind was its earthy colour. The origin of clay is under the soil, near fresh waters, and in forests. I tried to make clay by myself to experience it first-hand. So I dug up in my garden area and after so much hard work. I could not find any clay but sand and rocks.
The clay from the supermarket is not really natural. I divided the clay into blocks. I took one of them and tried to mould it using a wooden stick. It was a bit hard compared to playdough which is very soft and smooth in nature to mould. But when water was added to it, it became very smooth, soft and creamy in nature. It made the hands look messy but its touch and exploration were worth it.

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PERSONAL ENCOUNTER AND ARTISTIC EXPLORATION 

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Before doing this unit, I really did not think about what a person can do with a piece of paper. Now I took different types of paper and saw the movements made by them. Some of them were very hard, rough surfaces, shiny surfaces, smooth surfaces, very gentle, crumbled and much more. Then I took scissors and started cutting them into bits and pieces. As I sat down quietly I could hear the different sounds made by different types of papers on tearing them. I took a paper ribbon and swirled it in the air. It was like paper talking with air and tearing it apart. I found that cutting and ripping, which involves opening and closing motions, helps me improve my hand-eye coordination while also adding texture to the piece, bringing out the finer details and increasing the depth and realism of the work. (Pacini-Ketchabaw et al., 2016)

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PERSONAL ENCOUNTER AND ARTISTIC EXPLORATION

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Charcoal is a natural material, black in colour. Charcoal has the ability to grind, pursue, snarl, growl, dust, brush, remark, return, and redo things. (Pacini-Ketchabaw et al., 2016), The charcoal forced me to enter a space of diversity and made me reflect on encounters that I had when I first saw and touched charcoal. I remember when I was a child, how we used to cook food on fire using wood and the residues of the wood known as charcoal, we will use to draw, make fine powder and paste by putting some water and write using it.
For my artistic exploration, I decided to start drawing on a piece of white paper. As I was listening to the soft music and leaned into it, I noticed zig-zag lines pattern along with shading.

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Since clay helps to develop our ability to manipulate objects and improves fine motor skills because of its adaptable character, it enables children to play autonomously and apply their thoughts in their play.  Children may create a variety of shapes with clay using toys, kitchen utensils, and other items, which helps them develop their creative abilities. As a result of my learning experiences, I would provide all children with small pieces of clay along with other materials like wooden sticks, water, sheets, etc. and allow them to play unsupervised so they could create something new out of their own interests. (Pacini-Ketchabaw et al., 2016)

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Creating with materials in an early childhood setting is intimately integrated. The children are instructed to create or create something with a given set of instructions. Children are filled with ideas eager to be conveyed through the medium. (Pacini-Ketchabaw et al., 2016) The paper has always presented a conundrum to educators and children due to its uniqueness. Regarding the context of early childhood, it can be utilised to teach children through the language of movement in terms of "movements of making", "continuous motion," "a surprise of being moved by the materials," and "movement across." (Topal, 1999)
As the paper develops its tendencies, it can be used on water, floors or anywhere a child wants. It is responsive to bending, folding, and crumpling and is responsive to touch. In relation to early childhood, I can use paper to create movement by letting children play with it in activities like cutting, shaking and throwing, which can make the children's actions more intense in response to an echo of their actions.

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A material of optimism, charcoal embodies the need to be fresh, the desire to be open to new ideas, and the desire to deal with whatever arises that one would like to hear. By allowing experimentation and involving children in materials and stories to develop their ability through a variety of convergences and intersections, we have responsibility for the outcomes of encounters. The characteristics of charcoal include touching, attending, opening, and reacting to creative eruptions, which are crucial learning dimensions in early childhood education. (Pacini-Ketchabaw et al., 2016)

In order to encourage children to explore and develop their dispositions, including observation and listening, I may utilise charcoal as a touch medium exploration. Since the Reggio Emilia method is based on the idea that learning occurs when we make connections between ideas, events, and experiences, using charcoal as a pedagogical tool allows me to encourage children to draw whatever they want, to be open to their exploration, and to respond to their creative outbursts.

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Cultural background and history have an impact on artistic expression. By exposing children to various works of art that represent particular cultural traditions, and the environment they're in. As a result, they started to learn about various cultural values and how to appreciate variety. (Roy, 2019) By allowing children to participate and be present in the assemblage, paint enables children to express themselves through their art. Activities with paint can help children learn how to solve problems and make them aware of various sizes and materials. Overall, this contributes significantly to children's mental development.

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Children learn better when learning activities are applied using natural resources like light and modern teaching methods. As Reggio Emilia prioritises participatory, open-ended education to construct the child's knowledge by using the learning media made from natural materials, they become confident learners and develop an understanding of the world around them as well as capabilities like observation and experimentation. (Mahshulah et al., 2020)
As a result of my own reflection on what I've learned, I can now incorporate music into the sunlight and shadow activity to encourage children to dance and move their bodies more. It will also encourage children to learn the distinction between brightness and darkness, which will further their understanding of the world. They can practise and improve critical thinking skills, conduct experimentation, and investigate the shapes, patterns, and features of numerous things in terms of transparency and opacity by being exposed to processed art that uses light.

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Music has the power to ignite all stages of a child's development, including cognitive, socioemotional, motor, linguistic, and overall literacy. Early exposure to music helps young children acquire new words, their meanings, and word sounds. Exposing children to local music is a cost-free and entertaining way to teach them about other cultures and traditions. Through music, children learn about other traditions and indigenous vocabulary, which helps them respect the variety and welcome differences. Along with music, deep listening or internal listening also plays a pivotal role. Internal listening, or "self-listening," inspires us to listen to others but is also sparked by other people's listening to us. Children depict their ideas or theories to themselves as they express them to others, becoming increasingly mindful of their vision. (Gandini, 2011)
In the context of early childhood education, music and deep listening together can play an important part. Having a quiet time to listen the sounds, or musical activities in which aboriginal songs are played can be a great way of making connections to the traditional custodians of our land.