Kung Fu Adventure Week
Last week was Kung Fu Adventure Week at our kung fu school. L and I ran crafts for the week, with assistance from one of the teen students from the school. Before this was prep of various things -- some of the materials, and demo pieces to show them what we were making that day. Age range was 7-13 enrollment, although we think the oldest was 12 this year. Class size was usually 8-9, three groups every morning, except on Friday, when it was 4 groups at 5-6 per class.
What a lot of energy kids have! Still, in some ways it was easier than teaching adults, interestingly enough. We had to have backup activities every day, since some kids would finish sooner than others -- this year, origami was the top pick for backup, as none of them had seen a flapping bird before.
We made:
- Wax paper "stained glass" with leaves, ground-up crayons (all the school's broken ones), and some colored tissue paper from some other previous project. Attached sticks at top and bottom like a scroll, by punching holes in the wax paper and wrapping a yarn around the sticks and through the holes.
- Paper cut-out trees (like making snowflakes or dolls), cut out then paint. We saved some money by buying large sheets of paper and cutting to size. These became a little forest during the week, on one of the windows in the waiting area. The remainders from cutting out the trees could be used to make cards, by gluing them onto construction paper. What actually happened is some kids glued the trees onto the paper instead, but it's all good -- we had a great forest!
- Mobiles of wood and string, which the kids stamped with rubber stamps (school's and some of mine). Sticks gathered by assistant and head of school, wood discs from a log off the family farm sawn by L w/me assisting, twine from L's bookbinding supplies.
- Painter's tape trees. Use low-tack tape to create a tree on paper. Paint rest of page; let dry. L and I handled attaching rods to the top and bottom like a scroll -- we used hot glue this time, and old bamboo garden stakes that we got with the greenhouse stuff. These were significantly larger and heavier than the "stained glass" pieces, so the previous method wouldn't work well. Remove tape carefully, and you get a negative space within the color. (paper, tape, and paint were all new)
- Tibetan prayer flags. We cut, sewed and ironed them, strung them onto yarn with a crochet hook (L's idea), and the kids stamped them. Fabric was mostly from my stash, including a green I got at the local craft swap, and also from an old Christmas tablecloth that had stains I couldn't get out of it.
Yarn for all projects was from either my or the school's stash. Paint brushes were from school's supplies. We did need to get a few more pairs of scissors.
As the theme this year was trees, leaf stamps were popular. They also liked their traditional stamps -- elements, dragon, fish, ancient Chinese coin, and Friend (in Chinese).
***
We'll need new ink stamps for the next camp. The current ones mostly held up, but they're getting hard to use. Not too much leftover materials from newly bought things: some sheets of white paper, and painters tape.
***
The tree theme was covered in the rest of the day with stories about trees, information on each group's tree, how trees are important to us and the environment, and emulating aspects of trees in kung fu, like rooting.
The weapon practice for this year was staff. Everybody worked hard! On Friday afternoon the parents and some friends came to see all the things the kids had made, and to watch them perform. We used all the crafts to decorate the outdoor area, creating a "magical" woods next to the actual woods. They did a good job showing what they'd learned and the story was funny.
They had discovered these wonderful forest and were practicing some of their hand skills and movement, when an evil developer (in a Skeletor mask) showed up. He and his chainsaw-wielding ninja lumberjacks (also masked) say they're going to cut down forests and build meaningless structures (evil Skeletor laugh). Then the kids find magical staffs and learn to use them, and when the developer and ninja lumberjacks show up again, the kids stood firm and stamped their staffs at the bad guys and scared them off.
What a lot of energy kids have! Still, in some ways it was easier than teaching adults, interestingly enough. We had to have backup activities every day, since some kids would finish sooner than others -- this year, origami was the top pick for backup, as none of them had seen a flapping bird before.
We made:
- Wax paper "stained glass" with leaves, ground-up crayons (all the school's broken ones), and some colored tissue paper from some other previous project. Attached sticks at top and bottom like a scroll, by punching holes in the wax paper and wrapping a yarn around the sticks and through the holes.
- Paper cut-out trees (like making snowflakes or dolls), cut out then paint. We saved some money by buying large sheets of paper and cutting to size. These became a little forest during the week, on one of the windows in the waiting area. The remainders from cutting out the trees could be used to make cards, by gluing them onto construction paper. What actually happened is some kids glued the trees onto the paper instead, but it's all good -- we had a great forest!
- Mobiles of wood and string, which the kids stamped with rubber stamps (school's and some of mine). Sticks gathered by assistant and head of school, wood discs from a log off the family farm sawn by L w/me assisting, twine from L's bookbinding supplies.
- Painter's tape trees. Use low-tack tape to create a tree on paper. Paint rest of page; let dry. L and I handled attaching rods to the top and bottom like a scroll -- we used hot glue this time, and old bamboo garden stakes that we got with the greenhouse stuff. These were significantly larger and heavier than the "stained glass" pieces, so the previous method wouldn't work well. Remove tape carefully, and you get a negative space within the color. (paper, tape, and paint were all new)
- Tibetan prayer flags. We cut, sewed and ironed them, strung them onto yarn with a crochet hook (L's idea), and the kids stamped them. Fabric was mostly from my stash, including a green I got at the local craft swap, and also from an old Christmas tablecloth that had stains I couldn't get out of it.
Yarn for all projects was from either my or the school's stash. Paint brushes were from school's supplies. We did need to get a few more pairs of scissors.
As the theme this year was trees, leaf stamps were popular. They also liked their traditional stamps -- elements, dragon, fish, ancient Chinese coin, and Friend (in Chinese).
***
We'll need new ink stamps for the next camp. The current ones mostly held up, but they're getting hard to use. Not too much leftover materials from newly bought things: some sheets of white paper, and painters tape.
***
The tree theme was covered in the rest of the day with stories about trees, information on each group's tree, how trees are important to us and the environment, and emulating aspects of trees in kung fu, like rooting.
The weapon practice for this year was staff. Everybody worked hard! On Friday afternoon the parents and some friends came to see all the things the kids had made, and to watch them perform. We used all the crafts to decorate the outdoor area, creating a "magical" woods next to the actual woods. They did a good job showing what they'd learned and the story was funny.
They had discovered these wonderful forest and were practicing some of their hand skills and movement, when an evil developer (in a Skeletor mask) showed up. He and his chainsaw-wielding ninja lumberjacks (also masked) say they're going to cut down forests and build meaningless structures (evil Skeletor laugh). Then the kids find magical staffs and learn to use them, and when the developer and ninja lumberjacks show up again, the kids stood firm and stamped their staffs at the bad guys and scared them off.