If you have been on my blog long, you know how much I love to create art with my children. Creating art is different than creating a craft. Creating crafts is following directions to get an end result that is much the same as the person making it next to you. There is not much use of the imagination in creating the craft, but there is use of the imagination in what you DO with the craft.
This is why I love the Make and Play crafts in our Experience Early Learning box. The kids don’t just make their craft; the Teacher Guide always encourages a way to play with that craft and activate that imagination.
Our Passport is a fantastic example of this which you can read about here.
Creating art is using the imagination in the process. This is what first drew me to Reggio Emilia and one the the main reasons I love Experience Preschool. There are not many preschool curriculums out there that encourage creating art by looking at great art.
With Experience Preschool, we have observed architecture, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa and created towers, or St. Basil’s Cathedral and created our own cathedral We’ve observed beautiful Impressionist Paintings from Monet, and created ponds. We’ve come close to God’s amazing creation through exquisite photographs and created beetles, beehives, and all sorts of animals.
Today we looked at baboons through the lens of contemporary art.
What preschooler does that?! As a former art teacher I simply LOVE it! The amount of great art that my children are exposed to through this curriculum has blown my mind.
Experience Preschool sent us a variety of colored cardstock and some googly eyes to create our own art inspired by this contemporary baboon graphic. As I set the materials before them, I used my Teacher Guide’s prompts to get their imaginations activated.
Prompts
- What shapes can you use for a baboon’s eyes, ears, nose, mouth?
- What colors do you see in the photo?
- How will you overlap/arrange the shapes to make a baboon?
- What else do you notice about the photo?
Creating
When I mentioned the first question, my daughter stood up and ran to the kitchen. She returned with a metal spoon and declared she would use it to help her make the nose. Perfect! My son too was inspired by that idea and proceeded to trace the spoon onto his yellow paper with a little help from me.
I love how these Invitations to Create are geared to any age including me! I didn’t miss out on creating this baboon either, and I love how my 7 year old can create alongside her brother and they both inspire one another.
In the end, my just turned 4 year old decided against using the colored paper except to make the nose. He did enjoy using the markers to trace and make this own shapes. Meanwhile my 7 year old, as has been true since she was two, did her best to make it look like the inspiration photo.
I just love how they create together, are inspired by fantastic works of art, and each create something so different and reflective of their personalities.
