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Archive for the ‘Art in the Classroom’ Category

Facilitating An Artistic Child When You Aren’t Artistic Part II: Being Your Own Kind of Creative

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

I know. You said you weren’t “creative.” You may not express your creativity through paint and clay, but creativity can take on many forms. It can manifest itself in new marketing strategies, chemistry experiments, the construction of a fence, or your special soup recipe. Whatever your profession or hobby, it is likely that you use some sort of creativity every day. Here are a few ways to facilitate an artistic child without being “artistic” yourself.

1) Be confident in front of your child.
Your child is looking to you for an example. If you want him/her to be confident in trying new things (like art), you need to do the same! If you would like to learn how to speak another language, let your child observe you. Allow him/her to watch you make mistakes. Show your child what it looks like to be resilient in the face of obstacles. Talk with him/her about different solutions to everyday problems. Your child will recognize that learning a new skill takes time and making mistakes is part of the process.

2) Take risks.
Being “artistic” is all about being confident and taking risks. I am not talking about risking health and safety, but I am talking about risking pride. Risk failure with the greater hope of discovering something new! Try adding an unlikely ingredient to a recipe. Wear your favorite sweater with something you have never worn before. Rearrange the furniture in your living room. It may look awful, but it may look great… You’ll never know until you try.

3) Problem-solve with your child.
We all run into unexpected situations everyday that require us to change our course of action. With your child, practice recognizing problems as opportunities for creativity, rather than as obstacles. For example, when you and your child come to a road closed for construction, think of it as a chance to see a new part of your neighborhood. Turn the experience into the exciting discovery of new houses and people. As your child develops problem-solving skills, he/she will become more resilient to frustration in all areas of life and naturally apply them to art-making.

4) Look with your child.
Take the time to look at unfamiliar objects with your child. Talk about what you see. Look at the objects again on multiple occasions and share new observations with each other. Explain to your child that we encounter things everyday that don’t make sense to us at first. It is important for us to visit and revisit whatever it is that we want to understand. Teach your child to spend time looking, analyzing, and drawing upon new information to make sense of something new, whether it is a map of a foreign city or a new toy. This same process can be applied to looking at art. The more we look, the more we understand.

5) Say, “I don’t know. Let’s figure it out together.”
Don’t make up answers to satiate your child’s curiosity. Use your child’s inquisitive nature to springboard a quick Internet search, a trip to the library, or a conversation with someone who can help you! If your child has seen you asking questions to find answers, he/she will be much more likely to do the same! There is no need for your child to feel like they have to figure out the whole art thing alone. Take the opportunity to learn together.

Raising an artistic child when you aren’t artistic doesn’t need to be a daunting task! Even if you aren’t artistic, your can teach your child valuable life skills that will naturally leak into every aspect of his/her life—including art-making. There are many other resources available to help you feel capable in your quest to becoming a fantastic art facilitator. Below I’ve listed a few books that have me most helpful to me. Best of luck!

Suggested Reading

Barbe-Gall, Francoise. How to Talk to Children About Art. London, England: Chicago Review Press, Inc., 2005.

Einon, Dorothy. Creative Child: Recognize and Stimulate Your Child’s Natural Talent. London, England: Octopus Publishing Group Ltd., 2002.

Warner, Sally. Encouraging the Artist in Your Child (Even If You Can’t Draw): 101 Failure-proof home-tested projects for kids age 2-10. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989.

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Museum Resources and the Homeschooler

Monday, September 12th, 2011

It’s been said before, but it bears repeating, art is crucial to your child’s education. Educators increasingly tout the importance of creativity and acknowledge that art encourages analytical thinking and problem solving. It can further be used to teach concepts from a variety of disciplines. Finally and perhaps most importantly, art is a vehicle through which our children can express themselves.

The benefits of making art can also be applied to learning about art. The idea of teaching art history to children might seem to some, boring and to others, daunting. After all, who really cares about Chola bronzes or Mannerist paintings? The truth is, we can learn a lot from both. The cultural, artistic and historical components underlying an artwork can introduce children to new perspectives and ideas. Educators and parents alike, however, grapple with teaching art history, either because they find it difficult to understand themselves or, because they struggle with translating these themes into fun and accessible experiences.

Go to almost any museum website and look under the “education” heading and you are likely to get more than you bargained for. A world of resources, at your fingertips, built to teach art history.

The National Gallery of Art (NGA) boasts one of the largest and most prestigious collections in DC. Likewise, its educational programs are innovative and comprehensive. The NGA website has a page devoted to homeschoolers that features a resource finder, which allows you to search for materials by curriculum, topics or artists. These materials feature online interactive guides, printable guides and exhibition resources. Most impressive are the interactive guides that contain lesson plans, activities, printable worksheets, bios and glossaries. Printable learning resources like, Painting in the Dutch Golden Age: A Profile of the Seventeenth Century, are bountiful and provide enough information for you to construct long-term learning experiences.

The Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (FSG) house both Asian and American art. Like the NGA, they offer a wide variety of printable materials including exhibition guides and a teacher newsletter entitled, Asian Art Connections, which features material centered on exhibitions. Their teacher guides focus on more generalized topics such as the art of Buddhism, Japan and the Islamic world and are written in a clear and culturally sensitive manner. The guides consist of lessons, glossaries and community connections. The FSG also hosts an interactive resource that examines the Shiva Nataraja and includes sections on history, contemporary importance and its relationship to dance.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is unique in that it offers videoconferencing. What a great way to reach out to those who can’t make it to the museum! These video tours feature three series; Looking at Art, Learning History and Celebrating Heritage, each of which includes activities and teacher’s guides. Looking at Art focuses on building visual literacy and artistic methods and materials, something particularly helpful to students who are unfamiliar with museums and art.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Most of the museums in DC and beyond offer online educational tools that can help any homeschool parent tap their resources. Go exploring, I know you won’t be disappointed!!!

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Top 10 Teaching Moments

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

It has been just over a year since I launched Art Within Reach and I have learned a lot about teaching, managing a classroom, and art activities.  So, I thought it would be fun to do a top 10 list of my best teaching moments!

#10

Joan Miró’s The Farm

The National Gallery of Art houses this signature Miró painting from 1921.  On one hand, it offers a visual vocabulary of objects familiar to children and on the other hand, a composition and formal elements that easily engage a child’s imagination.  The central tree, in and of itself, is almost always a point of conversation.  Similarly, the children often debate whether it is a sun or a moon that is depicted in the sky.  I use this painting for my introductory lesson where we familiarize ourselves with looking at art.  I was sad to see the NGA had taken it down, but thankfully replaced it with an equally appealing Picasso.

#9

The Camera

My dilemma came during a lesson on still life.  I wanted the children to draw their own still life while considering elements like texture and light, perhaps a little too sophisticated for a four-year-old.  However, they were quite capable of making their own still life arrangements with objects that I brought in.  After considering the layout of their still life, I would then photograph them.  They used the photographs to help them draw their arrangements.  I found the same thing worked in my lesson on portraiture.  When I asked them to draw a self-portrait, I most often got depictions of their faces and while I knew they weren’t necessarily ready to compose a more sophisticated drawing, I did know they were capable of considering how they would pose for a photograph.  Before taking each child’s picture, we discussed pose, expression, angle and background.  Marrying the drawing with the photograph turned out to be a winning combination.

#8

The Portfolio and Exhibition

Part of AWR’s mission is to teach children about museums.  At the end of each session, students are tasked with making labels and helping me to display their artwork for an art show, in which parents were invited and students described their work.  Remaining works were placed in their portfolio, which they make the first day of class.  By doing all of this they gain an understanding of a museum’s purpose and how to properly care for, and respect art.

#7

Wiggle Worms

I found this great little rhyme on the Preschool Express website to do before lessons.  It gets everyone’s wiggles out and prepares them to sit quietly for their lesson.  The Wiggle Worms is a hit with the 3-5 year-old crowd, 6 and up are a little dubious….

#6

Art Detective Badges

Before I launched AWR, I had a friend design some badges mostly as a means for me to remember the names of my students.  Students earn their badges after our first class when we discuss what a museum is and practice looking at a painting.  In the museum, I pass them out at the beginning of each class  while reminding them that good detectives always use their museum manners.  In the classroom, decorating the badges is the introductory activity allowing time for students to arrive.    It works on so many levels!

#5

Islamic Calligraphy and Faux Gold Leaf

I do a whole lesson on art from the Islamic world and I struggled because I wanted a project that captured the essence of the art, but didn’t crossover into religious territory.  I was thrilled when I found the Arabic alphabet on-line through Stanford University.  I now have students practice making one of the letters and then lay down glue in the form of the letter.  Once the glue is down, they are able to sprinkle blue and gold glitter, as well as faux gold leaf to mimic the gold and lapis lazuli commonly found in copies of the Koran.  I also found a great site where you can print up some of the geometric shapes also commonly used in the decoration of a Koran.  In this way, they are learning about the formal elements of the Koran and they love the gold leaf!!!!

#4

Jesús Rafeal Soto

This Venezuelan artist is featured at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden whose works often use repeated patterns of simple geometric forms to suggest movement.  His works  illustrate how artists use lines, shapes and patterns to bring an artwork to life and engage the viewer.  During my last visit, I learned that  the Hirshhorn took down Eight Silver, but you can go to his website to experience his works.

#3

Genre and the Time Machine

How do I make genre painting appeal to my young students?  We travel back in time on our time machine to meet Sam and learn a little about his life.  Through three paintings, Eastman Johnson’s The Brown Family, On Their Way to Camp and The Early Scholar , we meet Sam and/or his relatives and talk about these brief moments in Sam’s life and how they are similar to and different from the lives of children today.  For a follow-up activity, we draw pictures of dinnertime at our houses.  It never fails that they always remember Sam and our ride on the time machine!

#2

Pollock, Matisse and Brushstroke

Even in the galleries (we use paintbrushes and swatches of color construction paper to represent the paint), I am able to show students examples of brushstroke.  Matisse’s Open Window, Collioure is especially accessible to a young artist who can easily replicate his dots and short strokes.  And of course, Pollock’s innovative approach to painting where he often dripped, poured and splashed is especially appealing to children.  While it can be messy, practicing Pollock’s methods is an exercise in creativity!

#1

Giacomo Balla’s Sculptural Construction of Noise and Speed

Giacomo Balla’s Sculptural Construction of Noise and Speed is another work that I use in my lesson on lines and shapes. It is, as the title suggests, a fluid visualization  of noise and speed.  At first, I asked the students to associate certain words with the piece, like; fast, slow, quiet, loud, but that didn’t seem to work with this age group.  That is when I began asking them to use their bodies to recreate the lines depicted and we talked about how the movement felt.  I also have them move their arms out to represent a loud sound and in to represent a soft sound. The in and out movement of their bodies corresponds to the undulation in the piece and upholds the relationship to sound.

I hope you have enjoyed my best teaching moments, can’t wait for next year!

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Reflections: Early Childhood Art Experiences with Teacher Megan Smith

Thursday, February 17th, 2011

This is the second in a series of interviews featuring adults from a variety of backgrounds and professions.  These conversations will provide a personal perspective on art and childhood.  It will illuminate the unique and important role art has in shaping our memories and cultivating our interests.  This interview features a Montgomery County Kindergarten teacher, Megan Smith.  I know firsthand that she is a wonderful teacher because she teaches my daughter (hence, the reason I have to refer to her as Ms. Smith!).  She has a real way of engaging and teaching and was thrilled when she agreed to be interviewed – look for another blog from her soon!

Art Within Reach {AWR}:
What is your earliest memory of a museum or work of art?
Ms. Smith:
I first remember a painter coming to my kindergarten classroom and she did an “experiment” by mixing a variety of different colored paints together. At the time, it was amazing to see the transformation of colors and it was a great visual of how you can mix certain colors to make a new one.
Another memory I have was visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art with my family when I was little. I remember loving everything about the museum; the smell, how quiet it was, the beautiful artwork, and the well-informed guide. I also remember being very excited to see the different works of art created by Picasso because I learned a lot about him in school.

AWR:
Were museum visits and/or exposure to art an important part of your upbringing?
Ms. Smith:
Yes. I was fortunate to grow up only 15 minutes away from Washington, DC; so visiting all of the museums was a weekly event in my family. I loved weekends because this would be our “family adventure” time when we would explore different museums and attractions in DC.

AWR:
Did you make a lot of art at home?
Ms. Smith:
Yes. My mother, being very involved in my education as well as being my Brownie and Girl Scouts leader, had a variety of crafts/materials for me and my sister to use at home, such as markers, crayons, colored pencils, paint, glue, colored paper, buttons, etc. My mother said that I was always making little projects and creating pieces of art for my family members. In my household, any free time we had from schoolwork, we were allowed time to do arts and crafts.  This was a huge treat for me!

AWR:
Were you exposed to art/ museum experiences at school?
Ms. Smith:
Yes. Since Kindergarten, I can remember art class being one of my favorite subjects to go to. I had amazing art teachers that made my school experience even more meaningful for me. I always felt that art was one of my stronger skills and I have always had an appreciation for it. In school, I would attend many class field trips to art museums, as well as a variety of other museums in Washington, DC.

AWR:
How have these experiences helped in different aspects of your career?
Ms. Smith
My past experiences of visiting museums with my family have impacted me in different aspects of my career. I always try to encourage my students’ parents to take their children out for exploration. I believe it is imperative that children are exposed to the world around them and are not confined in a house in front of a television. In addition, I have a huge appreciation for art because of my past experiences and this is portrayed within my classroom. I encourage my students to explore a variety of materials and to be creative. Many educators feel that allowing students to complete art projects is a “waste of instructional time”; however, I beg to differ. I believe it is important that children are exposed to a variety of materials and supplies because not only is art fun and engaging, but I feel that art is a wonderful way for individuals to express themselves. I want my students to have as much passion and appreciation for art as I did growing up.

AWR:
Do you think exposure to art and museums at an early age can have a lasting impact on children and if so, how?
Ms. Smith.
From personal experience, I believe that exposure to art and museums at an early age can have a lasting impact on a child. As I reflect on my past experiences of visiting museums and looking at various works of art, I remember fun times that made my family bond. I have such an appreciation for art today and I believe it is because of the experiences I had when I was young. I am fortunate to grow up in a family that also appreciates art. My sister is an amazing artist and I always wanted to be able to draw as well as she did. My father and mother are also great artists; my father even sold his paintings when he was younger. As a child, I never spent time sitting in front of a television, but rather experienced the world around me and put my creativity and imagination to use. I can honestly say that visiting museums with my family is one of my fondest childhood memories.

AWR:
I am reminded again in this interview of the relationship between: family and the museum outing and family and art-making.  In fact, just a few weeks ago at one of my classes I told a dad he could grab a coffee while I taught the class. His response was “No way, this is father and son time.” It’s true that you can bond with your children through a lot of activities, but art and art-making certainly offers an opportunity for exploration and creativity in a way that can connect children and adults.
It is also interesting to hear Ms. Smith highlight the importance of exploration.  She speaks specifically about understanding materials and self-expression, which is important for young children.  I think it can also be an exploration of culture, customs and ways in which different people see and depict the world.  If we can support that exploratory nature and encourage children to peel away the layers of meaning, it will help them learn and more importantly, understand concepts from a multiple perspectives.

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Art Lessons in Perspective: Virginia Public Schools Kindergarten

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

Art Within Reach’s children’s museum tours and art classes focus on art history, art education and culture, but their objectives include a wide range of inter-disciplinary approaches.  This series of blogs will examine how these early childhood classes support the curriculum standards of DC area public schools.

Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools

ABC’s of Art

In this series, students explore the basic components and techniques of art.  The following standards are meant during the course of this six-week class.

Visual Communication and Production

K.3      The student will identify and use;
1.  colors
2.  textures
3.  line and line characteristics
4. shapes
K.9      The student will describe the sequence of steps in the making of a work of art
K.10    The student will use motor skills to create two-dimensional and three-dimensional works of art.

World of Wonder Series

In this series, visit different regions of the globe and learn how art reflects traditions, cultures and beliefs.  The following standards are meant during the course of this six-week class.

Visual Communication and Production

K.13    The student will discuss the concept that people in all cultures create works of art.

History

K.2      The student will use simple maps and globes to describe places referenced in stories and real-life situations.

What Does It Mean?

In this series, students classify and explore different categories of art such as; portraiture, landscape, history, genre and religious.  The following standards are meant during the course of this six-week class.

Visual Communication and Production

K.4      The student will create a work of art that commemorates a personal or historical event.

Cultural Context and Art History

K. 12   The student will identify the purposes for creating works of art.

Geography

K.9      The student will recognize the American flag and the Pledge of Allegiance and know that the president ifs the leader of the United States.

Art Withing Reach

The following standards are covered repeatedly throughout each series of Art Within Reach’s art curriculum.

Visual Communication and Production

K.2      The student will express ideas and feelings through the creation of works of art.
K.8      The student will identify spatial relationships.

Judgment and Criticism

K.14    The student will describe and respond to works of art

Aesthetics

K. 17   The student will select preferred work of art from among others and explain why it was chosen.
K.18    The student will discuss thought, experiences, and feelings expressed in works of art.

Oral Language

K.2      The student will use listening and speaking vocabularies.

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Art Lessons in Perspective: District of Columbia Public Schools

Sunday, October 3rd, 2010

Art Within Reach’s children’s museum tours and art classes focus on art history, art education and culture, but their objectives include a wide range of inter-disciplinary approaches. This series of blogs will examine how these early childhood classes support the curriculum standards of DC area public schools.

DCPS – Kindergarten Learning Standards

Art

Art Within Reach’s curricula touches on most of the components in DCPS’ Visual Arts Standards for Kindergarten. Here are just a few examples;

Develop perceptual skills, analyze elements of art and the principles of design.
The ABC’s of Art introduces students to materials, spatial relationships, 2 and 3-dimensional objects, lines, shapes and patterns.

Skills, Processes, Materials, and Tools
Children have the opportunity to handle artist’s tools and discuss how artists make paintings, wood and bronze sculptures. Take-home activities with easy instructions and materials are provided for children participating in museum tours. All of the art classes include the activity in the classroom component. Children then get to experience the tools and processes firsthand.

Meaning and Informed Judgments
The AWR curriculum is based on learning to look and talk about art. Kids get to practice their observation skills every week.

Historical Development, Role and Cultural Diversity of the Visual Art
Each series in the AWR repertoire explores individual works of art within a historical and cultural context. In particular, World of Wonder introduces children to art from all over the world and highlights its cultural importance. While What Does It Mean?, takes a different approach and investigates the meaning or function of the work of art.

Social Studies and Language Development

K.1. Students demonstrate an understanding of the concept of location.
K.LD-Q.2. Share information, opinions, and questions, speaking audibly in coherent sentences.
K.LD-Q.3. Describe people, places, thing, location, size, color, shape, and action
Students are asked to describe them in every lesson. They will be asked and expected to respond to such questions as;
• What do you see?
• What do you think is going on in the picture?
• Why do you think that?
• What do you think that person is feeling?
• Where do you see that?
• Do you like this picture, why or why not?

Social Studies

K.1. Students demonstrate an understanding of the concept of location
At the beginning of each World of Wonder lesson, children look at a map of the world and locate the area to be discussed during that lesson.
Children learn about the American and the community in which they live during the lesson, This Land is Your Land.

K.2 Students describe the way people lived in earlier times and how their lives would be different today
Students travel back in time and explore what life was like over a century ago while learning about genre painting in Now and Then.

Math

K.G.2 Describe attributes of two dimensional shapes
In the series, ABC’s of Art, discuss and identify shapes within works of art.

K.G.3 Identify and compare three-dimensional objects.
Flat as a Pancake introduces children to common 2 or 3-dimensional objects. Then the children get to hunt for art objects and see if they can label them as 2 or 3-dimensional then applies those principals to works of art.

K.M.3 Use standard and nonstandard units to measure length
In our lesson, Near and Far; Tall and Small, children have fun seeing if Curious George changes size when he is closer to them or farther away. Then they measure objects in Aelbert Cuyp’s Lady and Gentleman on Horseback to see how artists trick us in making things looking farther away on a flat piece of paper.

Science

K.3.2. Investigate and compare physical proprieties of objects
K.1.3. Gather information about objects through the use of one or more of the senses
K.3.1. Recognize that objects are made of materials with particular properties
Children are introduced to a variety of art materials in the ABC’s of Art and asked to describe their physical properties usually through the sense of touch. For example, we feel the difference between canvas, wood and bronze. Once we understand these properties, children locate them in other works of art.

K.4.1. Compare the position of an object in relationship to another object.
Children explore perspective in a painting by understanding how objects change appearance when they move their position.

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Art Lessons in Perspective: Montgomery County Kindergarten Curriculum

Monday, September 27th, 2010

Art Within Reach’s children’s museum tours and art classes focus on art history, art education and culture, but their objectives include a wide range of inter-disciplinary approaches.  This series of blogs will examine how  early childhood classes support the curriculum standards of DC area public schools.

Montgomery County Parent Guide to Kindergarten Curriculum

Art

Students will explore pattern, color, shape, line.

The series, The ABC’s of Art, covers each of these topics and more by examining some of the most important works of art in DC.  My personal favorite is talking about line and pattern using Jesús de Soto’s Eight Silver.

Reading/Language Arts

Listen and speak effectively to share thoughts, ideas and appropriate grade-level topics and texts.

Weekly museum tours and art classes require students to describe works of art and respond to them, using questions like:

  • What do you see?
  • What do you think is going on in the picture?
  • Why do you think that?
  • What do you think that person is feeling?
  • Do you like this picture, why or why not?

Acquire appropriate vocabulary

Our classes try to introduce children to new concepts and words and therefore, often highlight one or two vocabulary words during a lesson.

Mathematics

Measure objects using standard and nonstandard units of measurement.

In our lesson, Near and Far; Tall and Small, children have funrseeing if Curious George changes size when he is closer to us or farther away.  Then they measure objects in Aelbert Cuyp’s Lady and Gentleman on Horseback to see how artists trick us into thinking things are farther away on a flat piece of paper.

Identify 2-D and 3-D shapes.

This museum tour explores the Freer Gallery of Art’s Asian and American collection where children learn about the typical 2-D painting and also see examples of a Koran and beautiful plates decorated with calligraphy.  Once they understand the idea of two-dimensional then they get to see one of the most beautiful reliefs depicting the life of the Buddha from the Kushan dynasty.  Finally, they learn the term 3-D by viewing some of the most sumptuous sculpture from South and West Asia.

Science/Social Studies

Describe one’s own features and characteristics.

Students will explore the portraits of important Americans in, Making Your Mark.  For their art activities, children will be asked to draw a self-portrait by using a mirror to identify their own physical characteristics and include objects that reflect things about them, their lives or their family.

Describe physical features of the earth.

In This Land is Your Land, students will discuss  on the American landscape, its resources and people.  In Outside Your Window, children will define the elements of a landscape painting as being much more than just land.

Explore different customs, traditions, and cultures.

The series, World of Wonder, includes lessons on Ancient China, Hinduism, Buddhism, Africa, and the Islamic world.

For your preschooler and Kindergartner these concepts will be timely, launching points that complement their classroom experience.   For your first and second graders, the concepts will be more familiar and the lessons will delve deeper into the subject matter.  In either case, the museum and work of art will be a new setting and a new way of learning.

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Using Dramatic Play To Teach Children About Art

Monday, September 13th, 2010

The "badges" my students get during their lessons.

Dramatic play is an important part of your child’s early development.  Playing is one way your child makes sense of the world, solves problems and uses both their fine and gross motor skills.  My daughter went to a play-based preschool and I could see the benefits of it her first year as she learned to navigate the world outside of the home.  In her second year, I found that her play-based curriculum enhanced the more complex themes being introduced in her Pre-K classroom.  During the first few weeks of school she came home everyday playing restaurant.  What was this new found interest in the culinary arts?  Well, it turns out that they were studying France and her teacher had set-up a café in the play area.  Here they were learning about the culture and cuisine of France without even realizing it – BRILLIANT!

On those long days when I locked myself in my office, pouring over my Art Within Reach lesson plans, my daughter’s French adventures returned to me. I discovered that I too could use dramatic play as a way to teach about art.  Granted, there are limitations to what I can do in a museum or as a guest teacher in a classroom, but I think it’s an idea worth exploring.

Use the Museum Visit as an Adventure

Turn your visit into a story!  Maybe you imagine you are characters in Babar’s Museum of Art, maybe you turn it into a hunt for lost treasure.  My students are art detectives who have to complete their training before they earn their badges.  If you are staying in the classroom, pretend that you get on a magic ship filled with art.  Either way, make it so they become actively engaged and this will get them excited from the get go!

Find a History Painting

Find a painting of an historical event.  Anything will do, but even better if you can find something that correlates to what you are learning about in the classroom.  Washington Crossing the Delaware (Metropolitan Museum of Art Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, American, 1816-1868 George Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851) is a vibrant example of a history painting that could inspire your young students to explore a beautiful painting and play.  In the museum, instruct them to pretend they are on the boat and have them start rowing then, ask the following:

Are they cold?

What does the wind feel like?

How hard is it to row?

Are their clothes wet?

Are they scared?

Are they excited?

You can turn it into a broader experience in the classroom if you allow them free time to “play the painting.”  Similarly, you can begin by examining a work of art relating to a time of year like October (John Whetten Ehninger, Smithsonian American Art Museum).  Give the kids some props and dress-up clothes and they can recreate the painting through their play.

Exercises such as these can be done with portraits too.  Read the students a story about a person, look at their portrait and discuss the pose and elements in the composition.  Offer those compositional props and dress-up clothes during free play and watch the students discover the sitter’s personality and life.

Keeping the work of art prominently displayed during free play or distributing smaller versions for students to have throughout the room is a great way for them to be inspired by the art while playing.  These exercises will not only familiarize them with a work of art, but will encourage make them to keep looking and interpret the art via their own creative playtime expression.

Make Students Play to Understand

Dramatic play within the museum has to be more controlled, but it is still possible. Have students take on an assigned role within a prescribed scenario as a way of understanding more complex ideas or processes.  For example, most young children don’t entirely understand what a museum is.  So, I like to break it down into a set of jobs, in adult terms; conservator, curator, exhibit designer, educator.  First we talk about categorization, which basically means having the little ones separate ponies from dinosaurs.  Then, each child gets a prop for their job and has to perform a small duty.   My “conservator” gets a toy screwdriver and a rag.  I tell him one of our ponies or dinosaurs has a cracked leg and needs to be fixed ASAP.  Once he fixes the pony and cleans it up, his friend the “curator” needs it so that she can learn more about it, by looking and reading.  Our curator gets a pencil and a book and is told to look carefully to find any information about pink ponies in that book. You get the picture!  I had one student proudly say to me, “I had two jobs, cleaning the ponies and studying them.”  In the same manner, I ask my students to become members of a book-making workshop.  They pretend to be a calligrapher, paper-maker, librarian, etc. and in the end, they have a book to show for it.

They might not understand the nuances of a museum or the art of book-making, but they will walk away with a basic understanding and a foundation on which to build.

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