Enabling Environments: Creativity - The Midas Touch

The Midas Touch Project, a Liverpool-based transformative learning programme for very young children and their families and carers, aims to enhance children's and adults' sense of awe and wonder in their everyday lives. Using recycled, 'ordinary' objects as tools of play, work and learning, the Midas Touch programme uncovers the unusual within the usual, the strange in the familiar and the beauty within the unsuspecting.

Its approach relies on the metamorphosis of recycled, discarded and 'worthless' objects, their incorporation into challenging learning experiences and the documentation of children's learning for its affects and effects.

Midas Touch is based on an innovative project called REmida, based in the north Italian city of Reggio Emilia, whereby an early years practitioner (pedagogista) and an artist (atelierista) work collaboratively in different ways to enhance children's learning and promote the idea that waste materials can be resources. The Midas Touch team also wanted to adapt some key principles from the Reggio Emilia approach when rolling out its programme. These include:

• Children must have some control over the direction of their learning
• Children must be able to learn through experiences of touching, moving, listening, seeing, hearing
• Children have a relationship with other children and with material items in the world that children must be allowed to explore
• Give children endless ways to express themselves.

Another vital factor of Midas Touch is the role of the adult, whether that be a practitioner or a parent/carer. The role of the adult within Midas Touch is to be the listener, the observer and a compass.

Through Midas Touch, children are able to explore interests via processes, but this does not necessarily lead to an end product. The adult can listen to children's interests, views and opinions and act as a compass by guiding their learning through appropriate questions, which will not impose the adult's own views and opinions, but extend the child's learning.

There is no hierarchy within Midas Touch; it is an opportunity for the practitioner and the child to go on a learning journey together that will lead to the opportunity to engage in sustained shared thinking. This gives the adult a better understanding of the children in their care by clarifying children's interests, opinions and schemas of play - which will in turn help to better support a child's learning.

CONSIDERED DECISIONS

Midas Touch was set up as a four-week pilot this March in St Helens, Merseyside, with the hope of becoming a sustainable resource eventually. Seven different settings across St Helens, including children's centres, private day nurseries and nursery and reception classes, attended the project on a weekly basis.

All decisions were made after consultation with Warwickshire's Enviro Arts Vision for Education (Weave) in Leamington Spa, House of Objects Creative Recycling in North Tyneside and, most importantly, the children and families in the St Helens area.

Funding the pilot was an initiative named Find Your Talent, a national scheme to encourage children and young people to participate in cultural activities, both in and out of school. The Liverpool City Region pilot is one of ten that was run nationally to support education settings, children and young people to participate in their local cultural offer.

I was seconded as an early years consultant for this project from my role as early years professional at Thatto Heath Children's Centre, St Helens. I had been involved with this project and Find Your Talent from the very early stages.

During the project, I took responsibility for the early years practice and ensured that the experience was open-ended and creative for all the children involved. I advised, supported and worked alongside the artist and co-delivered sessions to the children. I also gave advice and set out the essential outcomes of the project for children's centres and schools, based on local priorities.

The rest of the team consisted of:

Nick Owen, project leader. Nick is responsible for driving the project forward, managing the budget and timescales and championing the project. He liaised with press and marketing teams and the recycling department of the council, with support from the Find Your Talent co-ordinator for St Helens. Nick is director of Gloucester-based sports and cultural body, Aspire Trust.

Claire Weetman, project manager. Visual artist Claire supports Nick in managing and driving the project forward. She co-ordinated the participation of schools and children's centres, with support from the Find Your Talent area co-ordinator, Nicola Clarke. She was also instrumental in readying the venue for the project delivery.

Michiko Fujii, artist. Michiko worked with me to develop creative opportunities for the children. She collaborated with Claire to source suitable materials and was responsible for the preparation of the materials prior to use.

ESSENTIAL REFLECTION

Planning, reflection and documentation were essential elements of the four-week pilot project, as well as linking this all back to the EYFS. Each week there was a loose theme within our planning, relating to the objects used. These four themes were: plastics; wood and metal; natural materials; and blacks and whites.

However, the majority of the planning was emergent and reflective, looking at observations and reflections from the previous week. This meant that we introduced materials to extend learning and interests, such as a variety of mark-making media and real tools.

All sessions covered the themes and areas of learning of the EYFS in a holistic way and activities were all child-led. Children's learning was observed and documented in various ways, such as taking photographs, recording videos and making written observations. This documentation was used to enhance learning opportunities while at the Midas Touch, but was also made into books and wall displays to share with children, parents/carers, practitioners and the wider community.

Practitioner and parent/carer feedback about the Midas Touch project included the following comments:

• What have you noticed? 'Children really had to THINK to solve problems to make what they wanted.'
• What have you learnt? 'Why do we spend lots of money on expensive resources and things such as dressing-up clothes when children have such vivid imaginations and are so creative? Practitioners and parents/carers need to see this project to realise the importance of developing their children's skills in this way.'
• 'Everyday materials + Freedom = Learning.'
• What was important? 'Not to have any preconceived ideas. The children's imaginations take us on a wonderful journey.' 'To step back and offer support where required. To know when to be quiet. Allowing children to be children and show individual talents.'

Our partnership with St Helens Council will continue and our next step is to resource a feasibility study to identify a local venue and management structure to enable the centre to become a long-term initiative for children in St Helens and Merseyside.

I feel strongly that this opportunity for learning has been irreplacable for the children who were part of the Midas Touch. It is a place where each individual child's interests take them on a journey, free from boundaries - a place where a sheet of material can lead to the most imaginative role-play I have ever observed, where a plastic bottle can be transformed into a musical instrument and where children are free to truly explore play with real objects and real tools, free from any pre-conceived ideas.

Laura Grindley was formerly early years professional for Thatto Heath Children's Centre, St Helens, Merseyside and is now senior children's development and learning officer for Whiston Area Children's Centres.