Creative Modelling develops creativity and allows children to work together with you to realise different ideas and to create artistic compositions by exploring materials, colours and textures. Through the use of felt shapes in Creative Modelling, we are able to help children learn how to create representations of aspects of the real world. As part of this process, we help them to develop mental models of, and emotional responses to, the realities they learn to represent.
The materials developed for the module pare down the process of creating representational images to the most essential building blocks. Consequently, it is very easy for young children, and perhaps their less artistically inclined teachers(!), to satisfy the desire to create credible representational images long before they have developed the fine motor control needed for the skilled manipulation of the tools of the artists’ trade. With the most difficult technical elements of the task well supported, young children are able to concentrate on mastering those elements of the task that are within their grasp. These elements include such basics as identifying shapes and colours, using lines and dots, using all the space and grasping symmetry and pattern. Crucially, they also include developing a personal response to the subject of the composition.
Through the activities, children learn to share ideas through talk. They learn to control their own behaviour and attention. They learn how to work together with other children, and enjoy the process of a shared creation.
These sessions are built on the use of geometric shapes, cut out of felt, in a variety of sizes and colours. What is more, the felt feels nice to the touch. Placing the pieces on the felt background provides a soothing tactile pleasure that encourages persistence and participation.
Working with a teacher and each other, young children are enabled to create compositions across some of the most important genres of representational art, urban and rural landscapes, still life, representations of functional and decorative objects, and of animals.
Creative Modelling does more than allow children to represent their environment and express a personal response to it. It also:
Because the felt material is so easy to use, and because the tasks the children are asked to complete are so finely graded and achievable, the module supports very young artists in creating work that would otherwise remain beyond their capabilities.
