Inspired by a story in EArt magazine about children visiting an art gallery, Snells Beach Kindergarten decided to create their very own gallery and explore famous artists. Their Wendy House was transformed with a variety of artworks, books and music, and a working area for art to develop. Over a number of weeks, they explored Sandy Adsett, and his vibrant contempory Māori art, Piet Mondrain and his lines and blocks of colour, Wassily Kandinsky and his concentric circles, Claude Monet and his impressionist landscapes and Iris Scott, an American finger-paint artist.

Tamariki were captivated with the many styles, images and the amazing YouTube clips they found including Kandinsky’s art set to Mozart’s music and watching Iris Scott creating massive finger paintings. Their wide age range of two to five year olds were immersed in a wealth of experimenting, colour blending, revisiting, gift giving with Father’s day finger painted cards and contributing to a group finger paint project. This focus supported children’s wellbeing and sense of belonging during recent unsettled and anxious times and the team feel that their heightened art involvement has been an important way for tamariki to relax, get involved, feel connected and express themselves.