Art Project: Sewn Collages with Felt and Burlap

Over the last 5 years of doing after-school clubs, I have become better at recycling (or "upcycling") art supplies to reuse in new projects. When planning the Easter Club this year, I looked around at what I had and saw that we still had tons of burlap left over from our wool pictures that we have used in several clubs and children's church. And as you can imagine, being a Godly Play teacher, I have lots of felt scraps lying around as well. So, inspired by an idea that I saw in an art book where the children sewed pictures onto cloth, I came up with this idea for sewn collages. 

In setting up this corner of our Godly Play room, I tried to visually explain the process to the children with the examples below, so that they could figure out what to do without asking. This was, of course, motivated by the Montessori principle, "help me to help myself". I then threaded several needles with embroidery thread and had them in a pin cushion with a needle threader beside it. 

Here are the visual examples of the process for the children to follow:
1) pinning the cut-out felt pieces onto the burlap
2) sewing the felt pieces onto the the cloth

I also made my example as simple as possible, because I have learned that if I make a full picture, some children often simply copy my work rather than coming up with their own ideas. 

The children needed about two sessions to complete their work. These were 1-5 graders, who worked independently for the most part. Preschoolers would probably needed more time and slightly more assistance. 

Here are a couple of examples of the children's work:

In general, I have found that both girls and boys in the elementary years love to sew. Obviously, sewing is good for their fine motor skills, and there is something very satisfying about the end result. 

Easter Club Week 2/Oster AG Woche 2

Reviewing last week’s story together.

Wir besprechen kurz die Geschichte von letzter Woche.   

What’s in the gold box?  It must be something really valuable.  Is it a gift? 

Was ist in der goldenen Schachtel?  Es müsste etwas Wertvolles sein.  Ist es ein Geschenk?

Once when Jesus was asked who he really was, he replied by saying, “I am the Good Shepherd”. And he told this story . . .

Einmal als Jesus gefragt wurde, wer er wirklich sei, beantwortete er, “Ich bin der gute Hirte.” Danach erzählte er diese Geschichte . . . 

One very important aspect of Godly Play is the creative phase that comes after the story.  This is the time that the children to reflect, so that they are not just being fed information. Since children express and communicate so often non-verbally, a combination of play and art helps them in the process of developing a language to express abstract ideas. 

Ein wichtiger Aspekt von Godly Play ist die Kreativphase. Während dieser Zeit haben Kinder die Möglichkeit über die Geschichte nachzudenken und ihre Gedanken zu verarbeiten. Kinder fangen natürlich als nonverbale Wesen an und entwickeln die Kindheit hindurch Sprachfähigkeiten, mit denen sie zum Ausdruck über abstrakte Themen kommen.  Spiel und Kunst helfen Kindern in diesem Entwicklungsprozess.

Our creative phase this week was exciting.  We had something going on in every corner of the room, and it might have looked a little like a three-ring circus to a visitor.: ) Each week a group of 3-4 children reflect on the story together and decide what and how to fill up the space on an 80 x 80 canvas.  In addtition to reflecting on the story, they have to work as a team to decide who is going to do what and have to verbally communicate their ideas and wishes for the painting. 

Die Kreativphase diese Woche war aufregend. Es gab etwas in jeder Ecke los and sah wahrscheinlich so wie eine Zirkus aus. : )  Jeder Woche ein Gruppe von circa 3-4 Kindern reflektiert gemeinsam über die Geschichte der Woche und bekommt einen 80 x 80 Leinwand zu gestalten.  Neben dem Reflektieren ist das Kunstprojekt eine gute Gelegenheit Teamarbeit und Kommikation zu lernen.  Die Kinder tauschen ihre Wünsche und Ideen mit einander aus und müssen danach entscheiden, wer was macht und wie.

Group 1 is doing a mixed-media collage based on “The Mystery of Easter”. 

Gruppe 1 denkt über die Geschichte “Das Geheimnis von Ostern” nach und gestalten eine Kollage.

Here a boy is working on the background.

Hier malt ein Junge den Hintergrund. 

The two girls in the group are cutting out collage pieces to later glue on the painting.

Die zwei Mädchen hier schneiden Kollage Teile aus.

Group 2 is reflecting on the story of the Good Shepherd. 

Gruppe 2 reflektiert über die Geschichte, “Der Gute Hirte”.

Here they have drawn the shepherd and sheep with oil pastels.  Next week they will paint the background with watercolors. The technique here of painting watercolor over oil pastels came from a project by Kathy at Art Projects for Kids.

Sie haben hier den Hirten und die Schafe mit Ölpastellen gemalt.  Nächste Woche werden sie den Hintergrund mit Wasserfarbe malen.  Die Technik in diesem Bild kommt von einem Projekt bei Art Projects for Kids.

  

Remember all of the nature materials that the kids gathered in the park last week?  Well, we set to work making something out of them.  With a little string, clay and glue, you can come up with all kinds of fun things. 

Erinnert euch an die Naturschätze, die die Kinder letze Woche im Park sammelten?  Wir haben ganz viele Dinges aus ihnen gebastelt.  Mit Seile, Kleber und Ton kann man viele schöne Dinge machen.

We also had some dirt, egg shells,  and cress seeds on hand, because I was inspired by Caro at Naturkinder.  The cress will start growing in a couple of days and will be absolutely gorgeous. Thanks, Caro for the great idea!

Wir haben auch Blumenerde, Eierschlalen, und Kressesamen auch gehabt, weil Caro von Naturkinder mich inspiriert hat.  Die Kresse geht in ein paar Tage auf und wird wunderschön aussehen! Danke, Caro für die tolle Idee!

And, of course, playing with the stories was also an option.

Und natürlich dürfte man mit den Geschichten spielen!

See you next week!

Tschüss!

Parable of the Mustard Seed

This week at our Familienbrunch (Family Brunch) I shared the Parable of the Mustard Seed with the children.  Jesus told this story when asked to describe his Father’s kingdom and likens it to the smallest of all seeds that grows into a large bush-like tree.  One of the things that Godly play does well is allowing the listener to enter into the mystery of God without too much being explained away.  And GP’s treatment of the parables is excellent. Even though I have heard this parable all of my life, I discover some new aspect each time I tell it that I hadn’t thought of before.

Below is a picture of the materials that I used.  Traditional GP materials are always made of wood, but it can be quite expensive when you are first starting out to purchase all the materials.  And while I tend to be a jack-of-all-trades, carpentry is not one of the things I have experience with!  As a result, I use natural materials as often as possible, but I am not above using Playmobil figures when appropriate to the story.

The questions in the Ergründungsgespräch (The Wondering Phase) at the end are great:  What did the sower do while waiting for the mustard seed to grow?  Could one take the tree and put it back into the ground?  Was the sower happy when the birds came?  What could the tree be? What or who could the trees be?  The kids were a bit restless during this part today, so it was challenging to keep them on track. : )  However, one of the older three-year-olds was fully engaged and had some interesting answers. 

For the Creative Phase, we painted flowerpots and planted cress, an edible and fast-growing plant found in Germany.  I like to do activities in children’s church that help them explore God’s creation. Many children in the western world and in big cities are somewhat disconnected from nature, and I believe that experiencing nature is vital to children being able to explore the character of God and understand the Bible.  It is also amazing how much joy children find in getting their hands dirty with planting seeds and then being able to eat the fruits of their labor.   The inspiration for this project came from Nataša, a Montessori teacher in Croatia, whose blog, Leptir, I follow. 

One of the Montessori elements that I also value and try to implement in our children’s worship services is the idea of giving the children different options instead of having them all do the same thing at the same time.  While there is always some sort of artistic way of exploring the story, the children may also choose to play with the materials in the story. 

This week I offered another option which was a hit.  (It, too, was inspired by Nataša in Croatia!)  One classic Montessori exercise to develop fine motor skills and the ability to classify and categorize is to have the children transfer objects with a tweezer from one place to another.  Here to go along with the theme of planting, I placed dried beans in a bowl of sand and had the children fish them out with tweezers and transfer them to another bowl.  

Update 2012: Please click here to see a later post on the Parable of the Mustard Seed and here to find out about the new materials.

Joshua and the Promised Land

At our Familienbrunch (Family Brunches), we've been following the story of the Israelites from Abraham on.  I always start by bringing out the Wüstensack (Desert Sack) that you see in the middle here. 

This week I told the children the story of Joshua and the Israelites entering the Promised Land.  The story came from Young Children and Worship, a book that Godly Play founder Jerome Berryman co-authored with Dr. Sonja Stewart.

After the story, we sang some songs together and the children had an opportunity to pray together.  Then we began the "creative phase" in which the children are able to express their thoughts or emotions about what they have heard and experienced or spend time with God.  The children can either spend their time playing with the desert sack and figures from the story or they can choose to work with the art materials.

Today was a typical day in which I laid out materials in trays for the children to choose from rather than having a project that was instructional. The children could choose from oil pastels, collage material, chalk pastels and beeswax crayons. And some of the children used all of the mediums.  

Sometimes the children draw pictures directly related to what they have just heard.  Many times they draw something that they have heard several weeks before.  And other times, they draw things that they have experienced in everyday life, which is also very important.  This boy is drawing a pumpkin because he was at a pumpkin carving at our house the day before.  

Teaching Children to Draw

When I tell people that I give my children drawing lessons, they often look at me as if I could turn water into wine.  Although it's been a magical experience to teach them, the method that I use to do it fortunately doesn't require any supernatural abilities. On a trip to the States just before my son turned three (almost 5 years ago), I was looking for some books with art projects for children.  I caught a glimpse of the book below:

 

Every once in a while you run across a book that changes your life.  As soon as I saw this, I knew that I had to have it. I was especially intrigued by the subtitle: "A Creative Method for Adult Beginners, Too".  Could I (gasp!), who had always tried to draw, but was unable to overcome my perfectionism, actually learn to draw as well?  The answer was yes, and I would get to teach my children and others as well.: )

The premise of Mona Brooke's phenomenal book is that absolutely anyone can be taught to draw.  There are basic components in drawing, that once you know them, enable one to learn.  It is comparable to the phonetic sounds in a language that help one to learn to read, or notes in music.  Knowing these basics principles, according to Brookes, is key to developing drawing skills. 

Equally important is having the right attitude, which proved to be the key to helping me as an adult, and is also essential for children to progress. One of Brookes' sayings that has become my mantra with children, is that "in art there are no mistakes, only changes to be made".

The following is a little bit of what I have learned from Ms. Brookes. A typical drawing lesson begins with simple relaxation exercises for the eyes and limbs.  Then we review the basic shape "families" by finding things in the room or outside the window that belong to these families. Next, I give each child a set of warm-up exercises that are much like scales and etudes in music.  Below is what I gave my 4-year-old daughter on Tuesday.  My sketches are in black and hers in red.  The object is not for her to make an exact copy of what I have drawn, but rather to fill in the space in a similar manner.

On this particular day, we decided to do a still life of pumpkins, chestnuts and leaves.  I recently started letting her use oil pastels and she was very excited about this.  Together, we drew the still life with me guiding her through the shape families that the objects are composed of.  I drew on my paper and she drew on hers. 

Here is the her result below.  You'll notice that it is not an exact representation, but that is not the purpose of drawing.  When we draw, we interpret what we see rather than making exact copies.  What is also interesting in her pictures are the repetition of certain elements that are early indicators of design.

I know for sure that I didn't find this book by accident. Though creative as a child, frustration at not being able to draw realistically led me to give up on myself as an artist.  And in another life, I might have studied art education.  There were other factors as well that caused me to follow another path, including lack of an adequate art program at the time I was growing up; the Berlin Wall coming down as I was entering university and making the idea of learning Russian irresistable; and the lie that art teachers are only people who couldn't make it in the art world themselves.  Anyway, the path that I eventutally followed led to some very valuable life experiences, and when the time was right, God began to resurrect dreams that had been dead so long that I had forgotten about them.