Skip to main content

Provocational Art: 4 Year Old Class

Photos of wildlife in Canada were placed on the Drawing Table, along with paper and pencil crayons.  Children were free to draw without direction. Most of the children chose to replicate the animals on the table. We spoke about these animals during the process, and at Circle Time.





Some of the questions and statements from the children: 

“How do they survive?”
“Do they get cold and lonely?”

“I wonder if the fox would like to live with my family and my dog?”

“The raccoon looks scared that he's going to fall.”
“The bear's not sleeping. I can see his eye open. He probably isn't comfortable. He'd like my bed.”

The children took note of the animals sharp teeth and claws, which led to a conversation about hunting and survival.
 
Art provocations are meant to provoke thoughts, discussions, questions, creativity and ideas.
Provocations come in many forms; a photo, picture or book, nature, an object, an interest that a child has...., any source at all really.

Ultimately, provocations allow a child the freedom to explore in an open-ended way.


 







 
Until next time

Barbi

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The River - 4 Hour Class

We went out to the park to play and something caught our eyes. There was something new and different. One of the paths in the park was flooded with water. The children quickly gravitated towards it and decided to walk in the water. Chloe said that they were crossing a river. Andrew noted that they can walk in the water because they are wearing their boots. Sara replied with “our feet won't get wet”. Adonis was watching the other children walk in the water. I knew how badly he wanted to do it as well. But he was not wearing his boots. He went around the playground and saw a big branch and started dragging it. I wondered what he would do with the branch.       Adonis brought it to “the river” and started tossing it in the water. Alvis saw what he was doing and quickly joined in. Adonis threw the branch in the water and Alvis got it in “the river” for him. Alvis was wearing his boots so he was able to be in “the river”. They speculated about the size of the...

A Decidedly Different Day

Dollhouse It was an interesting day as I had lots of time to observe the children at play and listen carefully to their conversations. I was particularly intrigued by a conversation between two boys playing with the dollhouse. I heard Cole say to Nico " Where are the boys for this house? I need a boy." True, for some reason, only the female doll house figures were put out. He repeated the question and Nico said "I don't know but I need a boy too." They sat for a while, picked up some furniture and the dog, banged the items on the dollhouse roof and then stopped. They sat. And sat. And sat. I was so curious... why is it that they felt they needed a male to connect to? Our gender identity is clearly very strong at such a young age. I have seen this before when we act out stories in class. Generally boys want to play boys and girls want to play boys. The notion of pretending to be another character can be unappealing for some. Why is this? Should I, as a teacher, ...