Why we draw on that wall.
Why do we always need to be siting down and drawing or painting? Why do we always need to sit down to play with Lego? Vertical walls for drawing on and Lego walls for building constructions on create opportunities for development which otherwise would not have been there, had children only been given the chance to play in the standard way, as most classrooms require them to.
Creativity, fun, and dynamic socialization benefit from these kind of opportunities, among other motor skills:
- Vertical surfaces allow for bigger arm movements that increase strength and flexibility.
- Children who are restless and fidgety sometimes work better when standing up.
- Children have to use both hands which is a lot more challenging especially for younger children.
- They also have to cross the midline to reach all the spaces.
- Upright surfaces naturally put the wrist in an extended position that allows for better control of writing equipment.
- Tasks on vertical surfaces are closer to eye level which improves visual attention and eye hand co-ordination.
- Surfaces like this make it easier to follow directions e. g. left, right, up, down etc.
- We all work better if we can change positions.
In my experience of working on vertical surfaces, I feel that there is also a huge social aspect to it. On our Lego wall, we created a garden together, working from the bottom up, making the earth, grass, flowers, clouds and some sky. Children loved the discussions that went with it and patiently placed their Lego pieces guided by one another and the plan. With our large art project, we covered an entire wall with paper from floor to above the height of the teachers. We observed many social interactions that gave rise to incredible creativity; children worked for a long-time painting, stamping, blowing bubbles etc. and the project was extended to more than three weeks. One of our teachers had another brilliant idea and turned a table on its side, covered it completely with paper and the children drew vertically. The children again, were inspired by one another’s drawings, which they could see clearly. We noticed that together with the benefits in motor development, the creativity energy, motivation, inspiration and social component realised amazing results. The children returned to work on the Lego wall, art project and drawing project, throughout the day and day after day.
