We start our trip around the world on the Asian continent and our first stop is the vast and diverse country of China! Even before we got into the studio my older campers were checking out the map mural and trying to point out continents... and let's just say the definitely learnt a lot LOL! Once they came in to set the mood we took in a small part of this dance troop so they could get an idea of what they were in for! Last year I actually took my then 5 year old daughter to see this very same dance troop at SAPA (a free concert put on by the Ministry of Culture and the Chinese Embassy) and they were amazing, so I was thrilled to find them on YouTube. Unfortunately we couldn't watch the entire thing but we skipped through so they could get an essence and they were really stunned at the liveliness of the music! I think they had an entirely different idea of what Chinese music would be like. After this little interlude I got them to settle back down, because let's face it you put that on you have to expect some kind of a ruckus lol, then we got down to hearing a few fun facts about China! We found China on the world map outside my door and talked about it's size, it's geography and it's people. We talked about what the Chinese like to eat and what their traditional dress and even homes look like. Then they took a look at this really great little video. It's loaded with facts and really did a good job of covering lots of aspects in a style that is easy to understand! With our heads full of all these great facts on China, we then turned to our art project for the day! The older Imaginators were introduced to the Chinese art of scroll painting and they looked at a few different samples. I gave them two ideas, the first was to paint a pagoda or traditional Chinese building and the second was to paint a traditional Chinese landscape. Then I got out my materials and they got down to creating their very own scroll painting! One boy took his in an entirely different direction and used the Chinese style of using the vertical length but he drew elements that he picked up from the video. So you can see a pagoda, some bamboo a bridge connecting parts of the silk road and even a table with a bowl of rice! They are all simply beautiful :) My younger Imaginators made some very vibrant Chinese dragon masks! Before we got down to making them I gave them a bit of context and asked them if they thought dragons were real or imaginary. I think the jury is still out for some of my little ones lol.. but I tried to convince them that dragons are mystical (which means imaginary but also magical) in Chinese culture. They are special to the Chinese because they represent good luck and the Chinese believe they have control over water... so rain or drought is brought about by the dragon world. So these dragons are thought of as good, not the scary fierce fire-breathing ones from the movies... and after I filled their heads with visions of smiling friendly dragons bestowing rain and general good luck on people I whipped out my dragon head templates! Each child got a Dragon print and they painted and decorated them to suit themselves! They added strips of coloured paper and glitter... because well why not! Take a look at them in action! Check out what they did at The Reading Garden.
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So it's the last class of the term for my Picassos and it also happens to be the first official day of holidays, so I decided to break from my typical way of doing things... because why not shake things up on the weekend before you launch into 4 weeks of camp?!? Right? LOL So today we played a drawing game. I made a bunch of playing cards similar to the Chance cards in Monopoly. Written on each card was something to draw. The cards were placed face down and each child took turns pulling a card from the stack, not necessarily the card on top. Then when they saw what it was, they could choose to keep it or pass it on to the person next to them! When they all had a turn, you guessed it... they had to draw and paint what was on the card in their hands! Let's see what they did... Today's class was one that I really truly enjoyed, simply because the children got into the art-making process so much that it was like they were each in a bubble on their own even though we were all together in the room! I explained O'Keeffe's style to them, showed them some pictures and let them get down to it. This was also a great opportunity to practice observational drawing. Take a look... simply beautiful :) This is such a ridiculously fun little book that it is hard to imagine it getting any better, but when it's put to song and you throw in a few big dinosaur toys in the mix for props... then you get a class that is truly a riot! The Doodlebugs were dancing and jumping but they all took a good look at the different dinosaurs, especially my resident dinosaur expert! Then we got down to painting a scene from the Dinosaur Stomp! Take a look at our adorable dancing dinos! I'll say... that was a nice way to spend a Saturday morning :) |
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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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