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When I began the unit, the first question that came to mind was- What are materials in early childhood? What is their importance for children? As I progressed and read more about materials in the unit, I developed a deeper understanding on the concept that “Materials are active and participatory forces that open up new and divergent learning process.” (Barad, 2007).

The importance of materials in a child’s early years in profound. When children investigate, play and explore with different materials, they not only learn about them but also engage in aesthetic experiences that encourage them to imagine and experience the world from new and multiple perspectives. They learn about the properties of the materials and what they can do.

During this unit I inquired about four different materials – Paper, paint, clay and light and I have documented my inquiries and understanding as below

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History – Paper was invented in China by a Chinese court official Cai Lun 2000 years ago, using old rags, tree bark, and hemp. For about 300 years, Chinese guarded this secret, when it travelled to the Middle east and then after 500 years the to the Europeans. The first paper mill was built in Spain. (Cantavalle, 2019)

Some interesting facts:

·       1 pine tree can produce 80,500 sheets of paper.

·       Over 2 billion books, 350 million magazines, and 24 billion newspapers are published each year in the U.S. alone.

·       70% less energy is needed to recycle paper then making it from raw materials.

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Experimenting with paper:

I always though paper as something to read or write. But this exploration with paper made me realise the various forms that it can take.

I took a sheet of paper in my hands and tried to explore its properties. It seemed so thin and fragile. I could scrunch it, move it easily but could not make it stand. I wondered, “Can I make the paper stronger?” So, I rolled the paper to make the sticks and, in this form, it felt stronger and firmer. I created a paper tree. I saw that when sticks of paper come together, they became strong and stand on its own.

I looked at it and I wondered, “These look like paper straws. Can I drink water from them?”. So put them in a glass of water and tried to drink water from them, which was unsuccessful. After some time, I noticed that the paper had soaked water and had become soft and crumbly.

Paper is a versatile and accessible material and can be a wonderful learning tool for children to explore, experiment and discover. “Children construct their own knowledge by manipulating and giving meaning to objects”. (Mooney 2013, pp 52) This statement resonates with me because when children engage in such explorations in their own ways the learning that occurs stays with them forever to build on their cognitive and intellectual development.

I can provide children with paper in different sizes and forms like catalogues, books, cardboard, paper straws/cups/plates, tissues, labels etc. I can encourage their scientific invention by exploring with them, the various ways to change paper- cutting, tearing, crumpling, sticking, folding, floating or soaking with water etc. this will encourage a hands-on exploration of the materials to know and understand more about it.

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Paint is a material that children love. They can’t wait to catch hold of the brushes and add strokes on the paper.

Exploration: So, when I began to explore paint - “Paint became something to think with rather than a tool to develop toddler’s sensory skills”. I poured some red paint onto my hands, and it felt squishy, wet, bright, slippery, and flowing between my fingers to splatter on the table below. I began to wonder about the materials used to create the paint. I began to wonder, “Can I make my own paint?” and tried to explore the possibility. So, I got some turmeric for yellow colour and beetroot juice for red colour. Both colours looked watery, when painted with. So, to thicken them, I added salt and flour and they looked good, when I tried hand-painting with them. The natural paints left their colour on my hands.

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I decided to experiment with some other paint. I had some food colours with me. I grabbed some tissues and chopsticks, put some food colours in two cups with water to see if the colours stain the materials. I saw that the tissue was partially coloured, but the wood did not seem to get stained. I added some more food colours and saw that the materials stained more.

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This exploration with paint opened my eyes on the different possibilities for children, that can happen with materials when we start to view them differently. “The Reggio Emilia approach educates us on the new vantage point for seeing children in their brilliance and competence in constructing and advancing their own understanding.” (Edwards, Gandini and Forman, 2012, p.295). Providing children with opportunities to explore in their own way, will act as a way for children to convey ideas, express emotion, explore their sensory needs, explore process and outcomes, form connections in their own understanding.

Children can be provided with different types of paints – like natural materials- flowers, different foods like beetroot or coffee powder, glue, water colours, acrylic /tempera paints etc. They can be given different mediums to paint with like - brushes big & small, feathers, leaves, cotton etc. These can also be provided in different settings like indoors or outdoors, painting on cardboard or wall etc. They can also explore different types of painting like spin painting, splatter painting, bubble wrap painting etc.

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History: Clay is the oldest known ceramic materials and people began to fire clay in China and Japan in about 14000 BC. Clay tablet were the first known writing medium. (www.lakesidepottery.com, n.d.)

Exploration: As I held the clay in my hands it felt squishy, wet, sticky, and soft. I wondered “Would it slip past through my fingers?” I kneaded it between my fingers, pounded it on the cardboard and tried to punch the clay into different shapes. I rolled a circle and tried to cut it into half with a thin rope. I brought the two pieces together to make a flower and used a pencil to poke dots on the flower. “Would the flower hold the shape if I bake the clay or dry it in the sun?” Then I used another piece and rolled it over a pencil. I wondered, “Would the pencil come out or would it stick with the clay. But the pencil came out easily to make a clean hole in the clay. “Can I look through the hole?” “Yes. I can!”

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The chapter 5 of Encounter with materials explores clay in different settings/ecologies and the learning that happens as a result, is different for each ecology. The chapter states that, “Clay makes plenty of demands.” (Pacini-Ketchabaw, Kind and Kocher, 2017, p. 63). “Clay responds to the children’s movements as they work with it.” (Pacini-Ketchabaw, Kind and Kocher, 2017, p. 72). Exploring clay helped me realise its importance as a medium for children to express their thoughts in a tangible and thoughtful manner, as they learn to manipulate the material into different shapes.

Clay can be used by educators as an open-ended material in their educational practices to encourage exploration, sensory development, develop coordination and motor skills and build imagination. I could provide children clay tools and natural materials to experiment with clay.

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Sunlight, shadows, bulbs, tubes, bright, dark, on-off, glowing, blink – These are some of the words that came to me when I first started my inquiry into light. Light is one of the most important materials in the history of mankind.

Exploration :

I switched off the lights in the room and felt the dark around me. I switched on my flashlight to see the shadow casted by the bottle on the floor. I wondered, “Can I make the bottle bigger?” As I played with the flashlight the shadow changed the size of the bottle. I switched the light on put the light beneath the paper/ I could see the shape of the bright light passing through the paper. I wondered. “What else can light pass through?”

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Light as a material for children seemed like a complex material, at first. This inquiry made me see light in a different way. Chapter 3 of the book ‘Journeys’ emphasises on how “Children are curious, competent, rich and full of potential and are agents of their own life.” (Pacini-Ketchabaw, Nxumalo & Kocher 2015, p.47). So, when I critically reflect on my first approach to light, I realise that I was wrong and that experimenting with light will provide children with opportunities to explore a whole range of theories. Children can explore concepts like shadows, opaque, transparent and I could use resources like light boxes, echo tables, projectors etc. (Light Play Educational Resource, n.d.)

Reflection

Going through the unit and exploring the various materials, helped me to understand that – “Materials live in the world in multiple ways. They can evoke memories, narrate stories, invite actions and communicate meanings” (Kind, 2014, p.866).  When children will explore and experiment to learn about them, they will not only learn about the physical properties of them but also what these can do in the world around them. These materials and the experiences that have with them, will play an integral role to encourage children to imagine and experience world from new and multiple perspectives.

This inquiry has helped me to question myself every week like- how will the children react to this and made me wonder how they will engage themselves with the materials. It has enlightened me as a preservice teacher to view materials as active participants in the children’s learning.

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1)    Barad, K (2007). Meeting the universe halfway: Quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning. Durham: Duke University Press

2)    Cantavalle, S. (2019). The history of paper: from its origins to the present day. Available at: https://www.pixartprinting.co.uk/blog/history-paper/In

3)    Edwards, C.P., Gandini, L. and Forman, G.E. (2012). The hundred languages of children : the Reggio Emilia experience in transformation. Santa Barbara (California) ; Oxford (England): Praeger, Cop.

4)    Kind, S. (2014). MATERIAL ENCOUNTERS. International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies, 5(4.2), pp.865–877

5)    Light Play Educational Resource. (n.d.). [online] Available at: https://www.ipswichartgallery.qld.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/LightPlay-2017-Education-Resource.pdf.

6)    Mooney, CG 2013, Theories of childhood: an introduction to Dewey, Montessori, Erikson, Piaget, and Vygotsky, 2nd edn, Redleaf Press, St. Paul, Minnesota, United States.

7)    Pacini-Ketchabaw, V., Kind, S. and Kocher, L.L.M. (2017). Encounters with materials in early childhood education. New York: Routledge

8)    Pacini-Ketchabaw, V, Nxumalo, F & Kocher, L 2015, Journeys: reconceptualizing early childhood practices through pedagogical narration, University of Toronto Press Higher Education

9)    www.lakesidepottery.com. (n.d.). Ceramic, Pottery, Sculpture and Kintsugi Repair | China repair and restoration. [online] Available at: https://www.lakesidepottery.com/HTML%20Text/brief%20history%20of%20clay_pottery.htm