We have been doing a little “quilting” in preschool. We started out our day by reading the book titled, “The Quilt” by Ann Jonas. Each patch on the quilt has meaning to the child and leads to dreams of villages and flowers while on a search for Sally, the stuffed dog…
Then we spent time feeling this patchwork quilted pillow case I brought from home. We explored the texture, designs, and colors on the pillow case. Like the book, we talked about what each quilt square or pattern might remind the children of…
For example, the yellow quilted squares reminded the children of sunshine and the dark blue quilted squares reminded the children of flower gardens. We discovered that each quilted square was like a story in itself…
After reading the book and exploring the quilt, I shared with the children some paper shapes and demonstrated how I might use them to make my own patterns on a square of white paper…
Then the children were invited to make their own paper quilt squares by selecting shapes and creating a quilt design on their own white square of paper…
On the table, the children found precut paper shapes and glue. Some of the children selected the shapes they wished to use and set them out before gluing. Other children just started gluing the shapes on the paper without seeming to have a plan in mind…
Each of the children interpreted my modeling of the process in their own unique way…
Its always interesting to watch how each child organizes or approaches the processes I share….
Each child added their own name to their quilted square..
And we hung them all up together on our black construction paper background. Simply beautiful!