Spring Celebration

There was something for everyone to enjoy today.  First off, the weather was fantastic and believe it or not, there was a gentle breeze that was strong enough for our kite flying.  Today, we enjoyed playing limbo, making necklaces, decorating Jackson Pollock cookies, eating pizza, beanbag dancing, and flying kites.  What a wonderful day to celebrate Spring!

Happy Easter everyone!  See you in two weeks!

Happy Accidents

Last week, we learned about a playful artist, Marcel Duchamp (Doo-shamp).  Duchamp was a French painter that was part of a group of artists that liked to try new methods of approaching art.  He believed in "happy accidents" and enjoyed dropping pieces of string onto paper.  We decided to try this last week.  Not only did the children get a chance to explore and create but the activity also encouraged the use of fine motor skills.  We used clothes pins to drop and pick up the paint soaked strings. 

This week, we're going back to our study of Jackson Pollock and we'll be making Jackson Pollock cookies.  We'll also be celebrating spring with a kite flying time and a pizza party.  Please pack a drink and a side item for your child.  I'll provide the rest.   See you Wednesday! 

(Several of the following pictures are of the boys dancing.  We had our music and movement time outside.)

Farm Day Photos

Article- "Creativity Killers"

 Thanks for coming out to Farm Days today!  There was a crowd but I really enjoyed our time there.  That ice cream was better than I remembered.  I wonder if we could go by there tomorrow and get another sample?  Ha!  I will post pictures and update the blog before the weekend is over but I wanted to share this article was in my inbox today.

Creativity Killers (From Exchange Everyday)
March 25, 2010

I always view problems as opportunities in work clothes.
-Henry Kaiser

In The Creative Spirit (Plume, 1993), a book based on a PBS series on creativity, authors Daniel Goleman, Paul Kaufman, and Michael Ray point out these common ways adults discourage creativity in children:

1. Surveillance — Hovering over kids, making them feel that they're constantly being watched while they are working . . . under constant observation, the risk-taking, creative urge goes underground and hides.


2. Evaluation — When we constantly make kids worry about how they are doing, they ignore satisfaction with their accomplishments.


3. Rewards — The excessive use of prizes . . . deprives a child of the in trinsic pleasure of creative activity. 


4. Competition — Putting kids in a win-lose situation, where only one person can come out on top . . . negates the process [that] children progress at their own rates.


5. Over-control — Constantly telling kid how to do things . . . often leaves children feeling like their originality is a mistake and any exploration a waste of time.


6. Restricting choice — Telling children which activities they should engage in instead of letting them follow where their curiosity and passion lead . . . again restricts active exploration and experimentation that might lead to creative discovery and production.


7. Pressure — Establishing grandiose expectations for a child's performance . . . often ends up instilling aversion for a subject or activity. . . .  Unreasonably high expectations often pressure children to perform and conform within strictly prescribed guidelines, and, again, deter experimentation, exploration, and innovation.  Grandiose expectations are often beyond children's developmental capabilities.

Jackson Pollock Art

What an artful day we experienced last week!  It was a perfect day for lots of painting outside so that's just what we did.  We focused on the artist, Jackson Pollock, who was somewhat of an experimenter with paints.  He "threw" paints onto canvases to make unique pieces of art. 

We learned that Pollock would use his body to move around the canvas and he preferred painting when his canvases were on the floor of his art room.  We put our canvases outside and filled up our paint cups with brilliant colors and did just the same.  The boys had a wonderful time spattering and throwing paint.  I was quite impressed with the finished products.  

Jackson and Andrew came up with the idea on Friday to blow the paints onto paper.  We learned that Jackson Pollock experimented with different tools such as sticks and kitchen utensils.   Jackson and Andrew decided to use straws.  In addition, all of the boys found time to finger paint more pictures outdoors.  I've posted pictures of those activities below.  If you'd like to try to create your own mess-free "Jackson Pollock" at home, go to the link, www.jacksonpollock.org/

The above picture is one of Andrew and Ryan dancing.  We've been working with the rhythm instruments lately but in this picture, the boys were rocking out to Mr. Al.