Bonding with children and learning a lot about Art and children
Bonding time outside the Art room
Yesterday I needed to go to a morning meeting. I rarely do that, only when I have to say something important to all the bunk counselors. It's hard to know when that meeting takes place. On the schedule it's 9:20 AM. Last time when I need to do that I came by 9:20 AM and the meeting was already in full swing. So, I decided to be earlier this time and came by 9:10. I forgot it was Monday and on Mondays things usually seem to be running behind. So, I got to spend a good 15-20 minutes on a playground among kids.
Kids love to talk to me when I am outside the Art room out there walking, doing nothing. Well, they love to talk to me when I'm busy in the art room as well. But today I was actually able to give more than 1 short word of response; I was able to have a conversation with the little ones. I saw how kids play on that train, how they climb up and down, go between cars. We talked about which train car is the caboose, which one is dining car. Some older girl showed me her ears and told me she has allergy to certain metals, so she can't wear some earring. I told her my daughter has the same problem. Another girl nearby heard and also shared with me her aches and pain.
It's nice to be able to bond with children outside the Art room. Too bad that 90% of summer I'm stuck in the Art room and have no opportunity to see kids anywhere else.
We had a funny little exchange with one of the Chippi boy, a 4 y.o. I like to walk around barefeet on the grass and I do that often at camp. So, he looked at my bare feet and asked me where are my shoes? I told him I like to walk barefeet. He said it's dangerous, I would get something sharp in my foot if I do that. I told him I walk around barefeet a lot, so I'm hoping I'll be fine. He looked at me with that serious expression in his face, shook his head disapprovingly just like adults do and said that I will definitely hurt my feet if I keep doing it. "Ok", I said, and chuckled to myself, this guy reminded me so much of my mother-in-law. Everything is dangerous in her eyes, all the bad things are going to happen, you just wait and see.
What age is good for making the mosaic tiles?
For the past couple of weeks I was trying to "sell" the art of tile mosaic to different kids, without much success. I have so many materials for that, and I hardly used them last year. I only tried it with Tioga and Sioux last year (older girls, 10+ y.o.). The did it for one period, I could see it didn't really sparkle their imagination.
Last time, when Cheyenne&Lenape (girls 7-9 y.o.) came for their art period I gave them free choice of Sand art or mosaic. Most girls chose sand, I was only able to convince a few girls to do mosaic because there was no more room at the sand table any more. "Make mosaic," I said, "then you'll probably have time to do sand art". Well, they never left the mosaic table because this kind of art is sooo much more creative than sand art. There is so many possibilities and the results are highly satisfying.
When their groups left it was my lunch period. I went outside to have a quick lunch, and when I came back our usually quitet room at this time was busy with a few Cherokees (boys 7 y.o.) who got interested in doing tile mosaic.
I'm luck that my helper Eleonora's lunch is after me, she was able to take care of the boys and help them with it. They created a few nice tiles. As I cleaned up after mosaic art I was so glad such different age kids enjoyed it. "Good", I thought, "now I can put away the tiles until next summer. We used enough of them."
Ha! I was in for a surprise. When periods 7&8 came a few more Cherokees came in and asked to do even more mosaic art. Boy or boy, I wasn't prepared for such a demand! Half of my tile supply was not even sorted or cleaned yet!
It's funny how I make a mental pictures in my head about what age would a particular art be good for as well as boys or girls. Sometimes my assumptions are right on target, sometimes they are completely off. However, it takes a while to discover when they are off, since I don't often have an opportunity to offer all the arts & crafts to everybody. Well, this summer I'm breaking a whole bunch of my mental pictures about which crafts are interesting to what age kids. Before, in my mind the tile mosaic was the kind of art which is good mostly for older girls. It takes time, it takes some planning, it's not a "dynamic" kind of art that many boys prefer.
Well, this year in my room the last 2 periods of the day became one of Art Free choice for a bunch of kids. It's supposed to be their Free swim time. But this kids either swim for just a little bit and then come to the Art room or they don't like to swim and prefer to do art instead of swimming as they repeatedly told me. Many of them are Cherokee boys, age 7.
Those boys that tried out tile mosaic when Eleonor helped them got, what I call "hooked up on that kind of art". They started coming every day period 7&8 and do the mosaic. There are 2 of them who spend the entire 2 period doing only that, tile mosaic!
Because of them I got a bucket of hot water and actually cleaned the rest of my small supply of tiles. I am sooo happy that the tile mosaic became popular. I'm definitely planning to buy more supplies for next summer.
The proper burial for ants, spiders, and other insects in our camp
This year I discovered an exciting new art supply, Washi tape. It's a bunch of colorful tape that can be used to decorate... oh, so many things. During the Free Choice Wednesdays I had many girls decorate cans as well as different shapes.
In the beginning of camp when we had Kim coming for a few weeks to do clay and kiln I spent some nice quiet time with her at camp on a weekends. During that time I just discovered the tape, just received a bunch of it and tried it out. When I showed Kim a can and a shape I asked her what else would she suggest I offer kids to do with that tape. She gave me a great idea, a collage. I would take a little piece of cardboard and decorate it with tape, rhinestones, feathers and other things I have on hand. While we were spending time at camp without kids (Kim doing her kiln work, I - enjoying her company) I tried her idea. I made a collage and it was such a satisfying feeling and a great result. I put it up on the board and decided to offer it too during Free Choice.
The next Free Choice and also at he end of the days when girls like to come and do craft I showed my collage along with decorated shapes and cans. To my surprise no one chose to try the collage, even though they eagerly did cans and shapes. OK, I said to myself, I guess it's too complicated for a camp environment. They want something quick to do.
Well, yesterday I had a bunch of girls from Cheyenne and Lenape (7-9 y.o.) come to the Art room during the last 2 periods. They were very excited and really set on doing some group project. They asked for Washi tape and cardboard pieces that I once prepared for those collages that weren't so popular. I told them to wait because I was busy with boys and tile mosaic.
In the past 3-4 days I had the same 2 boys come in every period 7&8 and work dilligently on tile mosaic. Today the word must have got out about how interesting it is to do tile art and instead of 2 boys I got a group of 6! It was interesting to observe how the difference between the 2 boys who have been coming for a while and those who were new to this kind of art. The new boys finished their tile mosaics pretty quickly and were gone. The other "old timers" stayed for much longer, taking their time and finishing a few pieces
So, after I set up the boys, showed to them the basics of tile mosaics and gave them the supplies I turned my attention to the girls. I gave them the cardboard pieces, tape and after a while I saw them making sort of collages that before I tried a few times to "sell" unsuccessfully. I couldn't believe my eyes and asked them what they are doing. Their answers made my eyes wide with suprise:
- We are making graveyards
- Why??
- For the dead ant that we found
- All of you?? So many graveyards for just one little tiny ant?
- No, we find more dead insects. We found a dead butterfly yesterday that we want to buy. And slugs, and spiders. And one girl actually killed a spider on purpose so that she can make give a coffin
I didn't know how to react at first! I had a bunch of thoughts zoom through my head about how expensive this Washi tape is, how it is supposed to be used for "proper" art, not make a bunch of graveyards for ants.
But then I thought about it and decided that Art should be interesting and exciting to children. And especially if the Art has a connection to other important areas in children's lives, like Nature, then it's a double bonus. If the collages that I was showing to the same girls a few weeks ago didn't carry any connection to them, then let them make graveyard. Who said that art has to necessarily hang on the wall or stand on a shelf to be admired?
August 11, 2021
Yesterday I needed to go to a morning meeting. I rarely do that, only when I have to say something important to all the bunk counselors. It's hard to know when that meeting takes place. On the schedule it's 9:20 AM. Last time when I need to do that I came by 9:20 AM and the meeting was already in full swing. So, I decided to be earlier this time and came by 9:10. I forgot it was Monday and on Mondays things usually seem to be running behind. So, I got to spend a good 15-20 minutes on a playground among kids.
Kids love to talk to me when I am outside the Art room out there walking, doing nothing. Well, they love to talk to me when I'm busy in the art room as well. But today I was actually able to give more than 1 short word of response; I was able to have a conversation with the little ones. I saw how kids play on that train, how they climb up and down, go between cars. We talked about which train car is the caboose, which one is dining car. Some older girl showed me her ears and told me she has allergy to certain metals, so she can't wear some earring. I told her my daughter has the same problem. Another girl nearby heard and also shared with me her aches and pain.
It's nice to be able to bond with children outside the Art room. Too bad that 90% of summer I'm stuck in the Art room and have no opportunity to see kids anywhere else.
We had a funny little exchange with one of the Chippi boy, a 4 y.o. I like to walk around barefeet on the grass and I do that often at camp. So, he looked at my bare feet and asked me where are my shoes? I told him I like to walk barefeet. He said it's dangerous, I would get something sharp in my foot if I do that. I told him I walk around barefeet a lot, so I'm hoping I'll be fine. He looked at me with that serious expression in his face, shook his head disapprovingly just like adults do and said that I will definitely hurt my feet if I keep doing it. "Ok", I said, and chuckled to myself, this guy reminded me so much of my mother-in-law. Everything is dangerous in her eyes, all the bad things are going to happen, you just wait and see.
What age is good for making the mosaic tiles?
For the past couple of weeks I was trying to "sell" the art of tile mosaic to different kids, without much success. I have so many materials for that, and I hardly used them last year. I only tried it with Tioga and Sioux last year (older girls, 10+ y.o.). The did it for one period, I could see it didn't really sparkle their imagination.
Last time, when Cheyenne&Lenape (girls 7-9 y.o.) came for their art period I gave them free choice of Sand art or mosaic. Most girls chose sand, I was only able to convince a few girls to do mosaic because there was no more room at the sand table any more. "Make mosaic," I said, "then you'll probably have time to do sand art". Well, they never left the mosaic table because this kind of art is sooo much more creative than sand art. There is so many possibilities and the results are highly satisfying.
When their groups left it was my lunch period. I went outside to have a quick lunch, and when I came back our usually quitet room at this time was busy with a few Cherokees (boys 7 y.o.) who got interested in doing tile mosaic.
I'm luck that my helper Eleonora's lunch is after me, she was able to take care of the boys and help them with it. They created a few nice tiles. As I cleaned up after mosaic art I was so glad such different age kids enjoyed it. "Good", I thought, "now I can put away the tiles until next summer. We used enough of them."
Ha! I was in for a surprise. When periods 7&8 came a few more Cherokees came in and asked to do even more mosaic art. Boy or boy, I wasn't prepared for such a demand! Half of my tile supply was not even sorted or cleaned yet!
It's funny how I make a mental pictures in my head about what age would a particular art be good for as well as boys or girls. Sometimes my assumptions are right on target, sometimes they are completely off. However, it takes a while to discover when they are off, since I don't often have an opportunity to offer all the arts & crafts to everybody. Well, this summer I'm breaking a whole bunch of my mental pictures about which crafts are interesting to what age kids. Before, in my mind the tile mosaic was the kind of art which is good mostly for older girls. It takes time, it takes some planning, it's not a "dynamic" kind of art that many boys prefer.
Well, this year in my room the last 2 periods of the day became one of Art Free choice for a bunch of kids. It's supposed to be their Free swim time. But this kids either swim for just a little bit and then come to the Art room or they don't like to swim and prefer to do art instead of swimming as they repeatedly told me. Many of them are Cherokee boys, age 7.
Those boys that tried out tile mosaic when Eleonor helped them got, what I call "hooked up on that kind of art". They started coming every day period 7&8 and do the mosaic. There are 2 of them who spend the entire 2 period doing only that, tile mosaic!
Because of them I got a bucket of hot water and actually cleaned the rest of my small supply of tiles. I am sooo happy that the tile mosaic became popular. I'm definitely planning to buy more supplies for next summer.
The proper burial for ants, spiders, and other insects in our camp
This year I discovered an exciting new art supply, Washi tape. It's a bunch of colorful tape that can be used to decorate... oh, so many things. During the Free Choice Wednesdays I had many girls decorate cans as well as different shapes.
In the beginning of camp when we had Kim coming for a few weeks to do clay and kiln I spent some nice quiet time with her at camp on a weekends. During that time I just discovered the tape, just received a bunch of it and tried it out. When I showed Kim a can and a shape I asked her what else would she suggest I offer kids to do with that tape. She gave me a great idea, a collage. I would take a little piece of cardboard and decorate it with tape, rhinestones, feathers and other things I have on hand. While we were spending time at camp without kids (Kim doing her kiln work, I - enjoying her company) I tried her idea. I made a collage and it was such a satisfying feeling and a great result. I put it up on the board and decided to offer it too during Free Choice.
The next Free Choice and also at he end of the days when girls like to come and do craft I showed my collage along with decorated shapes and cans. To my surprise no one chose to try the collage, even though they eagerly did cans and shapes. OK, I said to myself, I guess it's too complicated for a camp environment. They want something quick to do.
Well, yesterday I had a bunch of girls from Cheyenne and Lenape (7-9 y.o.) come to the Art room during the last 2 periods. They were very excited and really set on doing some group project. They asked for Washi tape and cardboard pieces that I once prepared for those collages that weren't so popular. I told them to wait because I was busy with boys and tile mosaic.
In the past 3-4 days I had the same 2 boys come in every period 7&8 and work dilligently on tile mosaic. Today the word must have got out about how interesting it is to do tile art and instead of 2 boys I got a group of 6! It was interesting to observe how the difference between the 2 boys who have been coming for a while and those who were new to this kind of art. The new boys finished their tile mosaics pretty quickly and were gone. The other "old timers" stayed for much longer, taking their time and finishing a few pieces
So, after I set up the boys, showed to them the basics of tile mosaics and gave them the supplies I turned my attention to the girls. I gave them the cardboard pieces, tape and after a while I saw them making sort of collages that before I tried a few times to "sell" unsuccessfully. I couldn't believe my eyes and asked them what they are doing. Their answers made my eyes wide with suprise:
- We are making graveyards
- Why??
- For the dead ant that we found
- All of you?? So many graveyards for just one little tiny ant?
- No, we find more dead insects. We found a dead butterfly yesterday that we want to buy. And slugs, and spiders. And one girl actually killed a spider on purpose so that she can make give a coffin
I didn't know how to react at first! I had a bunch of thoughts zoom through my head about how expensive this Washi tape is, how it is supposed to be used for "proper" art, not make a bunch of graveyards for ants.
But then I thought about it and decided that Art should be interesting and exciting to children. And especially if the Art has a connection to other important areas in children's lives, like Nature, then it's a double bonus. If the collages that I was showing to the same girls a few weeks ago didn't carry any connection to them, then let them make graveyard. Who said that art has to necessarily hang on the wall or stand on a shelf to be admired?
August 11, 2021