Our art & nature workshops
At people&baby, children have the chance to discover new art&nature activities every day thanks to the inventiveness of our childcare professionals, supported by a team of artists who work throughout the network in France.
Since 2020, a team of artists has joined the people&baby network. Their mission? To roll out the art&nature educational project in all the daycare centres and train the professionals to bring the project to life on a daily basis.
Unique nature workshops
Cecilia, who is in charge of the art&nature project at people&baby, has initiated a new kind of workshop based on natural and recycled elements, creating an aesthetic environment that encourages children's creativity and involvement in their play.
Through these installations made from simple materials, children are given the opportunity to create their own experiences, with no instructions or restrictions, and with the primary aim of simply having fun. By playing, they learn and develop their skills.
Painting in all its forms
The artists have introduced all kinds of natural and recycled materials for painting or as a medium for creation.
"Encountering paint in the early years is the very first step on an individual journey towards artistic expression (...) Painting is both a sensory and motor adventure", explains Meaghan Matthews, art and nature project manager for the Ile-de-France region - people&baby.
As they get older, children refine their grasp by using different utensils (brushes, rollers, etc.). They coordinate and master their movements better and better, control direction, sketches out the graphics... Painting is the first step towards writing; it's also an evolving activity, allowing children to give free rein to their imagination and express their emotions, feelings and way of seeing the world in an unconscious way.
Modelling and assembling plants
Through touch, we teach children multiple ways of expressing themselves, helping them to imagine other possible worlds. Artistic support enriches the child's visual vocabulary. We may offer them to create letters and introduce them to their sounds; create a plant composition using the collage technique or plant sticks in clay...
"Immersion in nature, free expression through exploration and manipulation, strengthens the bond with the natural world and raises children's awareness of the environment. Those who benefit from this approach acquire solid skills - physical, but also cognitive and social - and an undeniable appetite for joy", says Sybille Couvreur, Art and Nature Project Manager for Hauts-de-France - people&baby.
A space for creative encounters
Another task for the team of artists is to create meeting spaces around the children's artistic creations, by setting up installations in the reception halls of the daycare centres.
A new way of working for professionals
The presence of artists in our daycare centres also contributes to the training of our professional teams. This enables them to learn a different way of highlighting the children's creative process, responding to their natural curiosity and providing a new dynamic every month.
