Times are changing again. Incrementally, children are going back to nurseries and schools, and public spaces along with shops, are slowly opening up to allow people to enjoy what they have to offer once again.
The UK governmental rules and regulations on social distancing are still quite strict, and they must be adhered to everywhere, including learning establishments. As the feedback from my online workshops has been so positive since the beginning of lockdown, I'm now continuing to run them remotely for the children to watch on-screen in a nursery setting.
It's been an intriguing experience so far in that I have to be quite inventive about how to keep the toddlers focus on me whilst online. As expected, there's quite a lot else going on in the nursery background, so I'm amending things as we go according to how best keep their attention, which means each workshop is getting progressively more significant.
As I'm offering the toddlers a little break from the norm during the day, whilst teaching them about vital conservation topics, in a gentle, fun and creative way, they're taking to it and me again, whilst simultaneously doing some beautiful drawings.
This week the kids were learning about how we've lost half of the Great Barrier Reef since 2016 (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/08/explore-atlas-great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching-map-climate-change/), and one of their favourite and most memorable facts was that astronauts could see the Great Barrier Reef from their rockets when in outer space (https://sites.google.com/site/coralsprojestfraser/cool)!
This week I've been invited to begin my Conservation Art workshops with another nursery too, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this next group of children take to seeing me in an online setting.
When I started running my sessions remotely at the beginning of lockdown, I said that we would see where the children and I go together in this medium, so it'll be interesting to see what happens over the coming weeks.
For more information about online workshops Teaching Children Conservation Through Art in early years establishments or schools, please email info@doodleswithmydaughter.co.uk.
