Children see the bigger picture using famous paintings to develop their communication and language skills

Children from a local school have boosted their language skills using the power of art, thanks to a pilot project with University of Northampton (UON).

Academics from the Childhood, Youth and Families team used paintings by the post-Impressionist master Henri Matisse to see if this would encourage nursery-age children to express themselves and develop their communication and language skills.

The children came from Queen Eleanor Primary Academy, part of Creative Education Trust that co-supported the project. Examples of Matisse’s work was used as a catalyst to inspire them toward expressing themselves in an open-ended, self-directed way.

The children could do this by painting themselves, talking about the art and what it meant to them, or using clay to explore their ideas further. Matisse’s famous cut out – The Snail – inspired the children to develop their fascination with snails further, including a developing project looking at spirals.

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The team selected Matisse’s images because of their vibrancy of colour and their simplicity and accessibility for younger children.

The project team found that, overwhelmingly, the children were inspired and motivated and more likely to talk. They also used more expressive language, verbally or perhaps through the symbolic nature of their artwork.

At a celebration event to mark the end of the children’s time in Nursery, the children had the chance to exhibit their artwork. Seeing it valued enough to be shown publicly, the children were able to talk about their experiences in school and see how much value those around them placed on their artwork.

Now the pilot has finished, the team is looking to roll out the project to other schools and develop a community of practice with teachers working alongside and supporting each other.

The team also want to explore how this approach could work using artwork from a greater diversity of artists.

Samantha Weeks, Senior Lecturer in Education, was one-half UON’s side of the project, working with Subject Lead Professor Eunice Lumsden (pictured on the right with Samantha next to her). She says: “As a play therapist, person centred artistic practise is part and parcel of what I do and what I teach my students at University of Northampton.

“We already know that the first few years of our lives – especially the first two – are crucial phases in our development. The architecture in our brains is building during this time, so this period becomes the foundation for all our future learning.

“Working with the children and staff at Queen Eleanor Primary Academy has been a pleasure and a privilege. The children exceeded all our expectations in how they engaged with the project, reinforcing the role creativity has in all aspects of child development.”

Magnus Wallace, Headteacher at Queen Eleanor Primary Academy, says: “I am very grateful to Eunice and Sam for supporting us to run such an engaging project which helps support our pupils’ learning and development while being really good fun.

“We’re delighted to be working in partnership with the University of Northampton and we are looking forward to future projects as well.”

For more about this project, please email Samantha for more details: samantha.weeks@northampton.ac.uk