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

Mosaic Garden Stones

Today our children had an amazing opportunity to work with Glen Anderson, a local artist specializing in mosaics. You can see his work at http://www.mosaicplanet.net . I met Glen last year at Urban Weavers Studio in Strathcona. I asked him many, many questions about mosaics, all of which he patiently answered with expertise. I was gearing up for an art project in our preschool class so I really wanted to get any pointers I could from him. The plan was to have our students make mosaic tiles to place along our fence at the garden plot at Terra Nova Farm. They worked out very well, thanks to Glen's great advice and it was a beautiful moment when child and parent hung the stones at the farm on our last day of school. It was a moment of great pride for all of us. The garden that they cared for with their own hands- tended to its needs in sunshine and in rain. They will always remain part of that space, that land and their stone will remind them of this connection. Even though they turne...

4 Hour Class - We Say Goodbye, and We Say Hello!

Another week has flown by - and it brought a couple of special people with it! We said "Hello" to our newest class mates and family members:  Welcome Noa, And Clayten! And we said "Goodbye" to Big Blob! But not before we played with him a few more times!  A cookie for Dominic's mom  A snail  Dominic's new glove Clayten made some donuts But sadly, we must say goodbye... Adam and Ella helped Yvette sweep the floor.  Please don't worry, we are already plannning what the next batch of space mud will look like! And now for a glimpse of the past week: ART AUTUMN LEAF ART This is currently on display on the board  PAINTING STICKS We will be using these to construct a classroom family tree PAINTING WITH BUBBLE WRAP FREE ART Cutting and gluing  Clayten drew "letters and bugs and leaves"   Justin m...

A Love for Cabbage

Another day of working with cabbage-our prized cabbage that I babied throughout the summer. The cabbage that I saved from the demise of cabbage worms, watered, and surrounded with copper to scare away slugs. So, yes, babied. After all that care and love I was hoping the children would enjoy working with this gorgeous vegetable and like the taste of it. The coleslaw was a hit last week but would cooked cabbage get the same positive response? We assembled our ingredients for cabbage rolls and showed all the children. They smelled all the spices that were in the recipe and many of them loved the smell of the fresh garlic! They took great pride in recognizing onion, salt, pepper, tomato sauce and ground beef. I wanted to introduce them to another herb so we passed around marjoram, which many agreed smelled sweet. We pre-cooked the meat just so the children could work with the food without any cause for concern. The smell of the onions and meat simmering sparked the interest of many ...