Since we all recently 'traveled' from the year 2010 to 2011 and since the children have been studying the concept of time we made Time Machines in art class this week.
I asked them all when they would like to travel to. Among the responses were...
Sosaia,8, whose older sister, Elizabeth is also in the class, said he would like to go to the time before his sister was born so he could be older than her.
Shaun, 6, said "to the time when I meet boyfriends." Ezra, 5, added,"They'll be driving rocket cars by then!"
Xenia, 8, said she'd go to the future to see " a girl president!"
I based this project on one I read about it the book Beautiful Stuff!Learning with Found Materials
http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Stuff-Learning-Found-Materials/dp/0871923882
This is a Reggio Emilia inspired book that documents children bringing in found objects, organizing them and then using them in art projects. It is a huge inspiration for my class. One fundamental use for the objects is to build a sculpture and then do a drawing of it. When we are done, we return the objects for use in future projects. We have our beautiful drawing to preserve the memory of our creation.
First, I had them take turns grabbing a few objects from the reuse materials. When everyone had 2 or 3, they could go back and gather more.
Then, they began to build enthusiastically. Their imaginations were running rampant about all the things their machine could do, the places it could go and the ways it would work. As an adult, I envy their wealth of ideas and energy for attacking them. They were willing to share ideas with each other, being respectful about not stepping on toes and trying to be helpful. I encourage this kind of sharing, rather than hoarding an original thought, because working together, melding ideas, is how we can improve things. (This works on a bigger, global scale as well!)
When they were done building they got a piece of watercolor paper and sketched it in pencil. Finally, a finishing touch of watercolor brought it to life. The machines seemed to actually work, if we all closed our eyes.
I asked them all when they would like to travel to. Among the responses were...
Sosaia,8, whose older sister, Elizabeth is also in the class, said he would like to go to the time before his sister was born so he could be older than her.
Shaun, 6, said "to the time when I meet boyfriends." Ezra, 5, added,"They'll be driving rocket cars by then!"
Xenia, 8, said she'd go to the future to see " a girl president!"
I based this project on one I read about it the book Beautiful Stuff!Learning with Found Materials
http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Stuff-Learning-Found-Materials/dp/0871923882
This is a Reggio Emilia inspired book that documents children bringing in found objects, organizing them and then using them in art projects. It is a huge inspiration for my class. One fundamental use for the objects is to build a sculpture and then do a drawing of it. When we are done, we return the objects for use in future projects. We have our beautiful drawing to preserve the memory of our creation.
First, I had them take turns grabbing a few objects from the reuse materials. When everyone had 2 or 3, they could go back and gather more.
Then, they began to build enthusiastically. Their imaginations were running rampant about all the things their machine could do, the places it could go and the ways it would work. As an adult, I envy their wealth of ideas and energy for attacking them. They were willing to share ideas with each other, being respectful about not stepping on toes and trying to be helpful. I encourage this kind of sharing, rather than hoarding an original thought, because working together, melding ideas, is how we can improve things. (This works on a bigger, global scale as well!)
When they were done building they got a piece of watercolor paper and sketched it in pencil. Finally, a finishing touch of watercolor brought it to life. The machines seemed to actually work, if we all closed our eyes.
The Future Machine
The Silver Arrow
Xenia said the time machine project was her favorite project ever at school. She really loves art class and it helps with her confidence in school. Thank you!
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