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With great curiosity infants use their arms to bring objects to their mouths and bang them on the floor. In this videative, a teacher motivates a group of infants to further explore their surroundings. Two infants sit on Mylar sheets with paintbrushes and jars of paint nearby. Watch how the teacher encourages Sean (blond hair, seated to the left), to explore the objects around him without using his mouth. She first models the use of a paintbrush by brushing some green paint on the Mylar nearby Sean. Then she pours paint out of the jar and intentionally sets the paintbrush down within Sean’s reach.

Will the infants be intrigued by the paint splattered on the floor around them, or will they be more interested in the paint oozing off the brushes? How do the infants relate to one another? How does the teacher extend their investigations? We observe important changes that occur during these ten “ordinary” minutes of play. The highlight is a brief moment of accidental collaboration between the two infants that quickly becomes deliberate. With the support of their teacher, these infants are better able to think about, test, and extend their understanding of their physical and social world.

Keywords: Infants, Paint, Children-Teacher, Communication, Imitation, Non-verbal, videative

Length of videative: 13 paragraphs, 9 video subclips

Length of stand-alone master video clip: 6 minutes, 50 seconds