Our painting is still very much hands on! Even the older kids (in fact, especially the older kids!) enjoy really getting into the process. This is a huge difference from the beginning of the class when most of the older kids came into class with the idea that they had to create something in order for it to be considered "art". I see a lot more open exploration now, and I love it even though it's messy! I think it is important for children to have a chance to openly explore a medium before moving into represntational work, a lot of times they miss this step.
It's not all mess making though, when they come up with an idea they can really get down to work! These girls found various containers in our recycling bin they could trace to make circles. One, apparently drawing inspiration from the recent olympic games, entitled her work "Olympic Circles". They were very serious and engaged about this work, and obviously had a product in mind--but it was still very much child initiated and child directed. 
Our favorite part of class, hands down (or usually, to be more accurate, elbows up) is open studio time, where each child has the chance to work on their own or with self selected partners with any of the mediums available in the classroom. Here we have children working with recyclables, clay, glue, and scissors. The work they come up with is amazing. Many ask me how I can keep kids busy for 1 1/2 hours--the better question is how can I give the kids enough opportunity to work on their ideas and still have time to clean up! I think they could go at this all day if I let them...
More to come!
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