What a disaster my planned art activity was today! We had collected some beautiful autumn leaves at Nature Discovery on Thursday and I had thought that maybe we could use them to do some screen printing with. So a few days later after I had dried and pressed them I was ready to give it a go. After setting up the activity I invited Twyla to come and have a go. The result was so disappointing not only for me but also Twyla. The leaves were not flat enough to gain a crisp out line so the resulting print looked like a big blob of paint. We abandoned this activity soon after. In hind sight I should have asked Twyla what else we could have done with the leaves and adapted them into a new art activity. But we had  had a busy morning with unsettled children and a few behavior issues and it just felt like this activity was a little forced. 
When it comes to inspiring tamariki to try a new activity I think it is much more successful to involve them into the set up of the activity and use their interest to channel their ideas into something new. This has been really evident in the work that has been carried out at the clay table for many weeks now around the subject of faces and people and encouraging tamariki to continue to explore this interest by providing provocations help inspire creativity and imagination.
I am now thinking maybe trying the screen printing again but this time inviting tamariki to maybe draw a face and cut out the shape to use on the screen.