As early years practitioners, we can provide opportunities for children to explore their creativity through the sensory experiences that autumn brings by transforming the usual creative area to reflect the sights, smells, sounds and textures of the season.
Setting the scene
Back walls and display boards in red, yellow and orange and hang up appropriate posters and artworks to inspire budding artists. Provide further inspiration by draping an adjacent table in 'autumn' fabric and arranging fruits, leaves and seeds for children to smell and handle. Encourage children to use the resources freely. Demonstrate some of the techniques suggested below, but avoid directing the children towards an end product. Some children might enjoy combining techniques to reflect their individual ideas.
Painting
- Consider the colours you offer and ensure that children can create their own autumn shades using green, red and yellow paint.
- Combine black and white paint with lots of water to create the impression of grey mists when swirled on to paper.
- Cover paper with thin black paint and glitter to create an autumnal sky with glitter stars.
- Provide a table with thick paint and apples, pears and other fruits cut in halves or quarters.
Collage
- Provide thick cardboard shapes along with leaves in varying stages of decay, and a range of autumn fruits, such as conkers, sycamore keys and acorns. Ensure that all materials are sorted into separate shallow trays.
- Introduce long stalks of corn that the children can use to create collage patterns.
- Supply some thick card, twigs and red, yellow and orange cellophane for the children to use for making autumn bonfire pictures.
- Make an 'autumn smell' picture by covering thick card in PVA glue and arranging decaying leaves, grasses and soil or compost on top.
Group creation
- Have an ongoing outdoor autumn creation that children can add to. Spread a large sheet of thick paper on the floor and invite the children to splash it with red, yellow and orange paint to represent a fire. The children could then stick on twigs, brown paper logs, leaves, red and yellow cellophane and glitter.
