Cut-and-Color Tables

Bev Bos, one of my inspirations in the field of ECE, always has a "cut and color" table available for the children.  Basically, it's an open-ended art station for kids to create something entirely self-initiated.  Last week I tried implementing a cut-and-color theme in the mornings at Beansprouts.  Here's my formula:

• Paper (any kind, any color, depending on the theme)
• Cutters (scissors, hole punchers, or pre-cut somethings)
• Coloring media (crayons, markers, pencils, oil pastels, or even water colors)
• Something sticky (tape, stickers, glue stick)

Here are some of the cut-and-color tables that I set up:

 Masking Tape, Highlighters, Scissors, and Bright paper

Fish cutouts, glue sticks, triangular crayons, blue and white paper

Shape hole punches, Glue sticks, Letter collage pieces, colored pencils

Open-ended creativity has been so under-rated, especially in my generation.  Coloring books and those paint-by-number pages told me how my art should look, while characters in the media became more tightly defined.  The ability to think creatively and outside the box is so valuable in so many contexts.  When I watch the children engage in open-ended art as well as open-ended play, I am reminded how, and why, Beansprouts is a great venue for the child's natural emergence of the self.  They come up with profound ideas and themes in their play, and because it comes from them, it captures their interest beyond anything I could offer.