Teaching Practice in Infants

Claire, I am currently a student teacher. I am a big follower of this page, I have my infant tp coming up in October and I am just inquiring for art ideas outside of the aistear curriculum. Any help would be really appreciated, S

For an infant TP I would say to keep it simple! Remember to observe how the teacher organises the management and structure of the art lessons and try to replicate it as that is what the children are used to.

As for ideas-
What is your theme?
Try to link it in with that as much as possible.

October is in autumn and it is also Hallowe'en and Diwali at the end of the month.
You may also be possibly following a theme of "At Home" as this is probably what you are covering in your Gaeilge lessons, "Sa Bhaile".

At this young age, the idea of letting children experiment with a variety of mediums and materials is key. They tend to develop the skills in them as they get older.

Choose harder mediums like oil pastels instead of chalk as they are learning the fine motor skills to manage these.

I also understand that Teaching Practice is a time when you want something to show for all your hard work!

"Autumn"

Print:

Using printing inks,
Roll some ink on a tray with a printing roller, and then on acetate.
Place an autumn leaf on top.
Place a piece of paper on top of this.
Press and roll with a clean roller

This can be done in a printing corner.
The rest of the class can make prints by placing paper on the leaves and colouring over with crayon while they wait.

Paint:

How about getting the class to paint an autumn scene? Include animals or houses you may have incorporated into your theme?

Maybe change a notice board into an autumn scene- getting each child to create a piece to add to the scene?

Clay:

Hedgehogs are great for this age group as you are teaching them the initial stages of using clay and the beginning of making pots-

Roll into a ball and pinch the nose.

You could use matchsticks for the spikes and later add the autumn leaves for a hibernating hedgehog effect!

"At Home"
(The Three Little Pigs/ The Woman Who Lived in A Shoe may be used as inspiration here).

Fabric and Fibre:
Creating houses or rooms/items using fabric and fibre.
I would advise you to have the material pre-cut.
If you give the children a template, let them stick the pieces first before you cut them out- so you have clean edges.
Encourage the children to fill the gaps.

Drawing:
Read the story aloud- ensuring not to show any illustrations!
The children respond and draw a picture. This is a fantastic means of checking comprehension skills at this age also!

When the pictures are finished- give the children a black crayon to trace around the edges. It is very effective.

Some of the teachers in my school cut A2 paper in half- so it's a long rectangle shape. It works well when children are creating a scene- as they have a length of the page to draw people and things beside one another.

Hope this helps! Best of luck with it!! :)