More than Just Water

Following heavy rains, the boys and girls embarked on a hunt for rainwater around the playground. Educators observed, listened and reflected on the children’s growing interest in water, using this as a foundation for deeper exploration and learning and guiding the beginning of an evolving inquiry.

The inquiry into water was introduced through a poem, Waiting for water encouraging children to wonder, imagine and share their thinking about water.

Subsequent downpours added another layer of excitement, extending the children’s engagement with this natural element and them talking about raindrops as friends.

Working in small groups, the children explored the campus, stopping at puddles, drains and garden beds to observe and document their discoveries through photography and conversation. Their observations included how rain gathers in uneven patterns, how it soaks into soil, moves through different spaces and disappears over time.

Developing ideas were then carried into creative explorations to encourage the children to think more deeply about water and its relationship to life. Children painted water droplets in detail, carefully observing their shape before adding layered ripple lines that spread outward across the page to capture a sense of texture, flow and change.

Alongside this, children designed and constructed both individual ripple mosaics and a large collaborative piece representing the thinking of the whole cohort. In their mosaics, they planned compositions thoughtfully, selecting colours, shapes and textures to reflect ideas about movement, friendship and connection.

As a meaningful recognition of the children’s thoughtful exploration of water and its connections to the world around them, a selection of their works has been chosen for an international exhibition. Titled Boundless Innocence: Art Connects Horizons, the exhibition featuring children’s artwork opens in Adelaide before travelling to Vancouver.

Sharne Rees and Karen Winderlich
Early Learning Centre Teachers