Becoming a Zebra: An experimentation in body art
Have you ever wanted to become a Zebra?
Yesterday, I met someone who did. While visiting our Timbernook Newcastle program, I spotted a small child carefully and methodically drawing lines on their arms and legs with a texta.
My first thought was "should we stop that?" I worried about whether it was the best thing for their skin. I worried about what their parent would think when they came to pick them up. But, thankfully, I took my own advice and took a pause. I didn't rush over and react to the situation - taking away the texta and trying to clean the child up. Instead, I watched for a moment.
It became clear very quickly that this wasn't simply a case of a child going rogue with the mark making materials. There was a focus, an intention to what the child was doing.
One of our faciliators and I walked over toward the child and she asked if he was a tiger. The child looked up from their mark making and said, quite firmly "No, I am a Zebra!"
It would have been easy to shut this play down, to make the child wash off the texta, to say "we don't draw on ourselves". But play isn't always that straightforward. There are a whole bunch of reasons children explore with drawing on their own bodies, including:
- Creative Expression
- Curiosity
- Role Play
- Exploring the Enveloping Schema
- Sensory Exploration
Some educators (and families) may worry about this type of exploration, they may have those moments of eek that I had at first too, but when you see the imaginative play and the joy of a small child, it's hard to deny that their play - whatever it looks like - isn't meaningful and amazing.
What Next?
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Hi had this happen today. A little boy had drawn all over his arms and legs. I remember seeing this post while eating my breakfast but hadn’t had a chance to read it. I would have normally said stop we don’t draw on ourselves. I took a step back and asked him to put the lid on the pen. We walked into the bathroom and he said it will come off with baby wipes. We cleaned most of it off. When mum picked him up I was telling her what had happened. She said don’t worry he has done this before. On reflection and now reading the blog next time this occurs I will ask more questions to know why the child has drawn on themselves.
As long as its washable markers, I don’t see an issue with this, and I agree that it’s great to see children engaged and focused with attention.
I think it would be important to have a discussion with the child about places and surfaces where it is ok to paint and draw though- otherwise they may start to redecorate the classroom walls!
Come on!
What are parents going to say picking up their child like that?
It’s not acceptable stop changing unecassary things and concentrate on real issues