PRE-SCHOOL TRAY

Pre-school Artwork

I'm not sure whether its still a thing, but even when my own children were young, pre-school teachers were supposed to come up with gifts for mothers day, fathers day, Christmas, Easter and other sundry occasions, that cropped up during the year, that could be constructed by a large group of 4 and 5 year olds with minimal supervision.  As if the poor teachers weren't stressed enough!!

Anyway, my pre-school teacher rose to the challenge way back in 1966, and had us all paint a piece of hardboard, and then (under supervision) nail on pre-cut edges.  She took them all home and varnished the surface.  End result - an actually usable tray that had (until with a degree of sadness I consigned it to the skip) lasted for over 50 years!  The funny thing was that when I found this at my parents' house, I remembered being really upset because I'd almost finished when I accidentally dropped a big white blob of paint when I was trying to add another white flower.  I also remember that the teacher advised me to just turn it into something else - hence the creepy white figure lying under the apple tree!  (Just goes to show that psychologists should show caution when interpreting childrens' drawings).  It was good advice though.......disguising one's mistakes is an essential skill for any craftsperson.