From typing and dabbing - Colour day at a day care centre

05/15/2019 |

Children handle smartphones and tablets naturally and intuitively. Music, games, videos and apps invite for an exciting pastime with wipes and clicks. Will children still paint and handicraft in the future? We have visited a day care centre in search for the answers.

Typing or dabbing? This question is as exciting for the manufacturer of children paints as for parents, teachers and educators. Creative ideas can still be implemented though a lot of programmes and apps.
 

We have joined the day care centre Sattletor in Forchheim and began to discover the digital world with children. And that in a complete analogous way. What does digital mean? Where do we face the 'digital' in everyday life? And would it still need paints and brushes for dapping in the future? 'Yes, because while painting I can think about something else' said one of the vacationing children and is convinced that 'Playing the computer is cool but sometimes one needs to handcraft'.

Within the Colour Day that the day care centre has been organising with KREUL for years, it is about discovering the virtual world in real time and look at the digital media in an analogous way. What shouldn't miss there? Right, vibrant wet paints that daub and drop wonderfully, and that are applied onto carton and cardboard with a brush.
 

With a lot of zeal, patience and fascination, the children designed their own laptops, smartphones and tablets, and showed how naturally familiar they were with the devices. 'This is the ON button' explains one of the children and confirms then that 'one needs to shortly press it. When one wants to turn it off, then one should press it slightly longer'.
 

The buttons of the devices were painted in pink, gold or black. Apps, logos and symbols received their individual look through a lot of glitter and neon. If something turned out to be not successful, then it was painted again - because that's why there are children's paints: to try oneself, to learn, to feel and to discover. With all their senses. While handcrafting, the kids discuss all relevant online platforms which everybody knew and could match. Instagram is for photos, Amazon for shopping and YouTube for cool videos.

The children deliberately confront with the functionality of digital tools through painting, drawing and gluing. And this is very important for the director Uli Haas: 'When we plan our Colour Day with KREUL, for us it is not only about trying the products. We think together which topics are important for children, which roles the colours play and why painting is such an important activity in the everyday life of our children. This makes the cooperation between the two parties worthwhile'.

That's how the holiday ended with much pride, some knowledge and certainty that both are necessary in the future: typing and dabbing!