Working in a Small Group

Zachary, Lizzie, Max and Micah were in the mood for painting.  I poured two jars of paint, one magenta and one yellow, and gave each child brushes.  in the middle of the table I arranged shapes cut from watercolor paper.  So each child had their own brushes, but had to negotiate the sharing of the paper and paints.

Moving more working and playing with one other child to working and playing in small groups is challenging and requires mastery of many new skills.  Our faculty has been reading about teaching children the social scripts and skills of turn taking.  By setting the table in this way, the children were practicing asking for turns, passing the materials to each other, and working side by side with shared materials.  When Max needed a fresh paper shape, Micah reached for one and passed it to Max.  When Zachary needed more yellow paint, Max brought the empty container to me for refilling.