Learning Through the Life of Dr. King

On Monday we played, played and played, but as it was the celebration of Martin Luther King's life, we took time to talk about this wonderful man and his message to the world.  The children looked at pictures of Dr. King (the name we used because it is easier for preschoolers to say.)  We sang songs and we talked about peace and what that word means.  They know the word but when I asked if they knew what it meant, they really couldn't put it into words, so we had a long discussion about peace and accepting and loving each other. 

 As always they amaze me with what they say and do.  One child said a beautiful thing; "peace is love in my heart," and then she hit the child who was next to her because they spoke while she declared her thought.  Seeing this it made me realize two things...preschoolers will be preschoolers, but also how we have great vision and beautiful thoughts about the world and how difficult it is to truly live those ideals.  To catch ourselves when we are in contradiction to these thoughts.  This is me speaking as an adult, but it is something to keep in mind while working with children.  They are always learning from the world.  This example was actually a great teaching moment because we addressed the behavior and talked again about peaceful actions and how to say things with words, rather the using our hands.  How perfect this life is, in the midst of a discussion on peace, we were given an actual example and a way to do better.

This was Dr. King's message after all: "Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The songs we sang:

Mar-Tin Lu-ther King

Sung to the tune of "Bingo"

There was a man who had a dream
His name was Mar-tin Lu-ther King
Mar-tin Lu-ther King, Mar-tin Lu-ther King Mar-tin Lu-ther King
His name was Mar-tin Lu-ther King

Doctor King, he had a dream
He wanted peace for everyone P-E-A-C-E
P-E-A-C-E P-E-A-C-E
His name was Mar-tin Lu-ther King

Freedom, Freedom Let it Ring

Sung To: "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"

Freedom, Freedom let it ring
"Let it ring", said Dr King
Let us live in harmony
Peace and love for you and me
Freedom freedom let it ring
"Let it ring", said Dr King.

Learning the Art of Sumi-e' (ink painting)

Sumi-e' Painting

When I use to teach Sumi-e' painting to high school students I loved the moment when the students loosened up and were free with their technique.  Preschoolers seem to start out that way.  They just enjoy the process and have no real attachment to the finished outcome.  I say no real attachment, but what I mean by that, is as they are working they seldom get upset about something not looking "just so."  They are more involved with the motion, the reaction, the fun of it.

Sumi-e' is a derivative of Chinese ink painting.  There was a time I knew the Chinese word, but alas time has erased it from my memory.  The essence of Sumi-e' in the Zen Buddhist tradition is to become one with what you are painting.  A truly great painting would be one where the artist can imbibe the feeling of what it is like to be a flower, a tree, or a bird.  Having taught this to teenagers and adults, I never felt it more appropriate then with these little ones.  They themselves, play and live in the moment and anyone who watches a child play can't help but notice how much they take on the characters, objects, or story.  They attain in a moment what Sumi'e Masters sometimes take a life time to achieve.

We have experimented a lot with ink and water at school.  A lot of our experiments have been wetting paper and using eye droppers to add ink to the paper.  This is one of our favorite projects because of the shapes that are created.  However, I have not taken out the sumi-e kits until today.  I wanted them to fall in love with ink, and then for them to fall in love again knowing they could make their own!

Today's focus was all about the making of ink.  We did a little painting as well, but really the invitation was to have the kids experiment with making ink and becoming familiar with it in a new way.  Below or some of the pictures from this time with Sumi-e.

This is one of our sumi-e' kits

I took many of the materials out ahead of time so that they were not overwhelmed with everything, but mostly so that I was not overwhelmed with everything:)

Here they are hard at work.  They take their little spoons and add water to their

rubbing stone

Next, they take their ink sticks and grind the ink in a circular motion.

When they are ready, the painting begins.

Here, E. is doing an ink wash and M. is painting "a really big snake!"

One of the boys discovered that you can draw with your ink stick, it was very exciting!


Bella Luna

Today we are back from a two week break, and back on a full moon.

I have noticed that full moons often effect people of all ages, but preschoolers in particular.

Something wild takes over.  Instead of worrying about it, today I decided to embrace the energy of the full moon and talk about it with the kids.

So, we created our own full moons.  We also looked at the phases of the moon, and talked about the different images we see in the moon.  We saw rabbits and faces.  We also talked about why the moon glows at night, and my favorite reason was Jasper's: "the moon glows because it has electricity."

This was a simple and fun project, because the kids loved watching the marker bleed on the paper with just a few drops from the eye dropper.

Start by using water color paper or a thick absorbent paper, then have children color all over with a washable marker.

 Give the children a cup of water and an eye dropper and let them go to town.

After the paper drys, let them draw with glue on the circle.



Then let the glitter fun begin.  let them sprinkle it on top of the glue, make sure to keep a dish or a cookie sheet under them to catch the glitter.  We would also knock some of the excess glitter off now and then.  It is a fun project because they love experimenting with materials; The way the marker bleeds, the pouring of glue, the shaking of the glitter, it is just plain old fun!

Following our art time, we sang some songs about the moon, and instead of a sun salutation during yoga, we did a moon salutation.  We had a dance party to "Can you Catch the Moon" by Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb

Later we read a couple great books with the moon in them, which I listed below along with our songs.

It was a beautiful lunar day for us at school.

Books we read:

Just the parts on Winter Moons.

Great book!

Songs we Sang:

"Can you catch the moon?"  Lisa Loeb and Elizabeth Mitchell

hit the link below to see the video and hear the song...very sweet

http://youtu.be/epRWUbgw9V4

THE MOON IS CIRCLING ‘ROUND THE EARTHTune: “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again” or “The Ants Go Marching”

The moon is circling ‘round the earth, hurrah!, hurrah!
We cannot see it, in the day, the day.
But when day turns into night,
We can see the moon so bright.
Oh, we’re oh so glad that the moon is in the sky.

Jean Warren

MAN IN THE MOON

Man in the moon,
Man in the moon,
Shinning in the night.
What a happy face you have,
Big, round and white.

                        Jean Warren

I SEE THE MOON

I see the moon
And the moon see me.
God bless the moon
And God bless me!

                        Traditional



Clay Tiles

This is a wonderful project idea that my husband gave me.  He does this with his Middle School students

and I was impressed that these 3-4 year olds were successful making their own.

I shouldn't be surprised, but it was wonderful to be taken back by their talents yet again.

We use a low fire white clay that does not have grog in it.  We also used low fire glazes. 

One things I have to say about real clay in general versus play dough is that even if you do not have a place to fire your clay, the experience of playing with real clay is worth the $20.00 you pay for a 50 lb. box.  There is nothing like clay.  Play dough is great as well, but clay can do so much more and feels great!  I think it is an invaluable material for children of all ages.

With that said, let's talk about this project.

•  You want to roll out slabs around 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.  Any size will do, however these were 5" X 5".   Next time I will have the children roll out the slabs, but we were working under a deadline to get them ready for the firing, so I rolled out the tile slabs.

• Next, give each child a square piece of paper, and then have them fold the paper in the fashion of making a paper snowflake.  This is great to do in a group because I would do a fold and then they would try to do the same fold with their paper.  Great for observation techniques and then the coordination for them to do it themselves

After they are done folding their paper, then I give them scissors to cut along the edges

They loved unfolding the paper and finding their cuts made a design.

After they open up the paper, have them place it on top of their slab.

makes sure they really smooth it out and rub them flat onto their slabs.

Next, have the children paint on a thick coat of glaze.  When this coat drys, add a second coat.

It is OK that the clay has not gone through a bisk firing.

If you have colored slips, this would work even better.

After the glaze has dried, peel off the paper snowflake.

It will leave a neat design on the clay.

Some Holiday Crafts

These three projects are simple projects to do if you are looking for something fun, as well as something that will keep toddlers interested and happy.  At school I try to do a lot of experimenting with art materials where they don't have to have a finished project, yet sometimes they love walking out the door with something to show their parents.  These first two projects came from Family Fun, and they are just that.  The last project is a simple paper chain.

Glowing Snow People:

You will need recycled water bottles or other plastic bottles, white tissue paper (we used recycle tissue paper from a present which we cut up into small pieces...this gave us the opportunity to talk about reusing items), google eyes, felt for the hat, a battery operated tea light, and watered down glue.

Prior to giving the children the bottles I cut holes in the bottom of the bottle a little bit smaller than the tea lights, so that after pushing them into the bottle they do not fall out.

• Start by painting the glue mixture on the bottle. 

I love the look on his face!

• Next, start adding the tissue paper all around the bottle
  

•  Add eyes, and black felt around the bottle top for the hat, if you have the actual bottle top you can just paint it black.  For the mouth and nose I found it easier and more expressive to have the children draw them on. oh, and of course glue on some felt circles for buttons.

I love the personality these Snow People have.

Popsicle Tree:

• Have the children color in their Popsicle sticks with green marker, or if they wish to chose another color, that also looks great .  It helped to have different length pop cycles. 
• Have them glue down the popsicles in the fashion of a tree.
• Then have them glue embellishments on as ornaments.

Paper Chains:

I think everyone knows how to make a paper chain, but the trick to making a nice one is to have beautiful paper.  This paper was from my paper collection, and instead of having it sit in the drawer, I decided it should be showed off.

One quick tip, I found that glue sticks work best with this age group because it sticks rather quickly and is easier to handle.

Paper Weaving

A nice quick project to do with old paintings is paper weaving. 

Fold an old painting in half lengthwise.

Cut slits along the crease leaving about a 1 1/2 inch border, and about an inch between each slit going down your paper.

Next you can either cut up another painting for your strips or use solid construction paper.

We used construction paper the same length as the paper and about inch wide.

Then teach the children how to weave over and under, making sure to alternate between each room.

Again, this is another one of those hand eye-coordination projects that is great to do with preschoolers.

It is also a fun way to re-visit a finished piece of artwork.

Our Little Carpenters

About a month ago we really got into hammering with real nails and drilling into our well loved pumpkin.

Shortly after that, one of our students brought in a piece of Styrofoam for his friends to hammer on.

Now we are onto the real things and we all are loving it!

I have some wood that has been through all sorts of weather so it is a bit softer for the children to push their nails into the wood, and then start hammering.

A parent also donated a stump, which has little cracks in it that also makes for easy nail positioning.

They have been having a ball.

What I love is that after they hammer, they also take the nails out, so they are working both ends of the hammer and taking responsibility for all the tools.

We also have two hand crank drills that the children thoroughly enjoy as well.

My plan is to have them start drilling two pieces of wood and then screwing them together after the break.