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This week is all about showing the Imaginators that writing and drawing or illustrating are two sides of the same coin and in fact being good at one can actually help to strengthen the other!
In fact, illustrators and authors go through the same thought-processes when creating their end product... the COMPOSITION PROCESS. Both must learn to think, gather ideas, plan out a plot or try out different ideas, make corrections or edit until the finished product is up to scratch. As usual the older Imaginators started the day off with me in the art room. But since our end product for this week is a book that must first be written and then illustrated I used the time to talk to the Imaginators about the role of the illustrator in the real world and how they are actually hired by publishers to bring a book to life! Of course this week the Imaginators are going to wear both hats so they will have to shift gears from using words to get their thoughts across and then decide how to best draw a picture or pictures to get those same thoughts across or maybe even add another dimension to them. I also tried to get the Imaginators to tell me what types of books they liked to read... because what you are interested in reading will give big clues to what you might enjoy writing. I got some pretty interesting answers that ranged from adventure and mystery to game manuals! LOL... go figure. We also looked at different styles of illustrating using picture books I collected. Almost everyone was able to find a style they identified with right away! Since we are so integrated this week Aunty Reiko came across for a few minutes and helped guide the Imaginators down the path to figuring out their book titles or main ideas. Then the Imaginators and I spent the rest of the class figuring out who was telling the story (the main characters and even supporting characters) and they made some beginning sketches of what they might look like!
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Today the Imaginators had to finish off their papier mache projects :) Take a look at our process! Afterwards of course we took to the basketball court for some fun in the sun! Catch up on the highlights of Camp Imaginators here.
For the entire week our Imaginators have been challenged to think of the things around them in different ways. We talked about what kind of items are recyclable (or can be made into something new for example recycled paper) and if this wasn't possible how we can use them in a different way and therefore give them new life (reuse)!
The material we used today is really difficult to recycle and as such it can sit in a landfill for decades.. the stuff simply does not go away so it's environmental impact is pretty heavy. So heavy that there is talk of trying to ban it as a packaging material altogether! But Styrofoam is still fairly common, so instead of dumping these containers and trays I decided to use them in our mosaic art project! We painted some styrofoam trays in different colours and cut them into small pieces. Then the Imaginators drew pictures on cardboard that would form the base for their mosiac piece. Next of course they simply stuck the pieces down according to which colour they needed and voila... a beautiful work of art that stops at least some styrofoam from heading for our landfills!
For the younger Imaginators this exercise was also a test of fine motor skills... and even our youngest made me really proud!
See what they did at The Reading Garden.
Today the whole gang of Imaginators visited the Wild Fowl Trust. Some have been there before for others it was their first time, but everyone learned something new and we all had a great time. The Wild Fowl Trust plays an important part in conserving our wetlands so naturally it fits well into our theme for the week... and where else can you go to get so close to wildlife and see gorgeous images like these? :) The Imaginators learned all about the different types of birds and ducks and of course the main event... the 30 something year old caiman relaxing in his little area.
In keeping with our recycling theme for this week the Imaginators are going to make a beautiful piece of art using just scraps of magazine pages.
To do this, they cut long strips of magazine pages and glued them on a cardboard backing. When the entire piece of cardboard was covered they drew the outline of a simple image of their choice on black construction paper and glued the cutout over the magazine strips. Just gorgeous and made from things we might have otherwise thrown away! Some of the Imaginators didn't complete this project so I'll update with pictures of their work as we get it done during the course of the week!
See what they did at The Reading Garden!
My little Imaginators got to build some nifty little toys today! Using nothing but things we would otherwise throw away the girls created a castle fit for a princess and the boys... well let's just say they were ready to blast off with the excitement of building their very own rocket!
Take a look :)
See what they did at The Reading Garden!
I've been itching to do a project like this for ages so now that it is Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Week I have to say I might just be more excited than the Imaginators :) Today my older Imaginators created a papier mache piggy bank using a balloon, some egg crate parts and lots and lots of newspaper strips and flour paste. They did everything from start to finish... they even measured and mixed the flour paste. Our piggy banks are going to be painted and decorated but of course they will need some time to dry and set. So look out for the finished products on #FixItFunFriday :P The younger Imaginators were not left out of our papier mache madness! They started making what promises to be some very gorgeous bowls. Take a look at our process. Later in the week they'll be painted and prettied up ;) Take a look at what they did at The Reading Garden.
Science Week has come to an end, but not without one last visit from Rocket Roger and Professor Flash of the Mad Scientist! This time the Imaginators were treated to their feature science show which teaches all about air pressure and gases... lots of chemical reactions which means lots of fun effects and things to make children scream and laugh lol! Take a look at this short clip captured by Aunty Reiko!
For the rest of the day the Imaginators used their time making improvements to art done during the week (if we felt it was needed), finishing assignments for The Reading Garden or just playing games! The little Imaginators were with Aunty Reiko colouring and playing :)
The Imaginators learnt all about food chains today! My older Imaginators started off the morning with me so I let them watch a little video summarizing the concept of the food chain and then we discussed and came up with lots of different examples!
Of course we had to put an artistic spin on this very scientific topic so I showed the kiddos how to create a 'stylized' version of the animals in their food chain. Then I showed them how to depict the food chain as a series of animals with open mouths... this is a concept I found online but I think it is so great at driving the ideas home and it's super cute :) To make sure the stylized versions of the animals were recognizable I explained that they had to make sure to keep the thing that made the animals distinctive... a cheetah has spots, a lion has a mane and a snake has fangs!
The kiddos used the white boards to experiment with their ideas before they committed them to paper. They wrote out their food chains, tried drawing their 'stylized' versions then they chose their coloured paper and drew them out animal by animal and stuck them one inside the other. I think they did a terrific job!
Our youngest Imaginators joined me in the afternoon and for them we managed to do the same project, but we all went through the steps to create the same food chain :) Take a look at our little ones :)
Take a look at what they did at The Reading Garden!
Today the Imaginators got to walk in some very big shoes... the Mad Scientists transported them back to prehistoric times to when dinosaurs walked the earth and got them imagining what they ate, how big they were and what they may have looked like. They all got to be mini-paleontologists and dug for dino bones and put them back together. The show was tremendously interactive and loads of fun! YAY for Mad Scientists for bringing science alive for our little Imaginators! To cool down from all this action we had a few rounds of pictionary. But of course everything with these Imaginators turns into excitement. |
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Be a fly on the wall in our art room! Take a look at what we do, how we do it and the smiles that I get to see week after week :) Archives
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