Shadow portraits of our stuffed animals!

The Monkeys were so playful and adventurous when creating our shadow portraits.  We first started the workshop by searching the space to find shadows and to see how we can make shadows using natural light and flashlights.  Some questions that came up were, "Hey, where did my shadow go?  Why is my shadow chasing me?  What's the name of my shadow?"

Then we talked about how we were going to make our shadow portraits using black paper and graphite pencils.  While we were drawing we were testing to see the different affects graphite and light have on each other.  So lovely to see how a "normal" everyday medium can be looked at in new light.

After our works were made we gathered around to see the what came out of our shadows!

V: I made a dinosaur and butterfly. They are friends.

N: I drew a dog with a lot of teeth so that he can eat.

I: I drew a sun, hearts, a dog, and a banana.

C: I drew a dinosaur.

J: I drew a chair and its shadow.

P: I drew the sun, speeder and a rock.

E: I drew a smiling dog.

O: I drew a monkey and hearts because I like monkeys.

K & N: W drew a hand with a heart in it.

L: I drew a dog.

A: I drew my hand and a hare bunny.

Some of the Monkeys got out their stuffed animals or toys to make shadows and then use as a still life. Very clever artists these bunch of Monkeys are!

With love,
The Monkeys, Arlene, Ben, and Atefeh

The 6 year old Monkeys from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing with the 4-6 year olds in KG2D from Collegiate American School in Dubai, U.A.E. 

The Tigers shadow play

How are shadows made?  What are they?  How can we play with them?

We first started this Dear You workshop by exploring different ways of creating shadows using natural light and flashlights. The light was shining so beautifully that day in Espoo that we didn't need to try so hard! 

After we got the hang of shadows we then used it to create artwork! Some of us took a more realistic approach and others took a more imaginative and symbolic approach. During the artistic process a few Tigers wanted to turn their creations into shadow puppets!  

At the end of the workshop, we all gathered around and shared thoughts about our own works and what we thought about our fellow artists' creations.

L: V's drawing made me real scared.

Ad: I saw that my shadow looked silvery.

Misk: The shadow of myself.

R: It's the shadow of my hand on the floor.

Ne: I draw what my body looks like with a heart. I like Miska's shadow.

P: My shadow portrait is a story of my family and the jungle. My daddy is 99 and my mommy is 36.

U: Neha's artwork is awesome. I drew the shadow of my hand. My hand controls everything.

V: How was it possible that the pencil shined when we used it on black cardboard? My shadow portrait is a long story about me and some animals.

So much amazing insight!

With love,
The Tigers, Arlene, Toti, and Zeynab

The 4-5 year old Tigers from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing with the 4-6 year olds in KG2E from Collegiate American School in Dubai, U.A.E. 

Shadowing our shadows in Singapore!

Moving from shadows of constructions to shadows of people was interesting. Shadows that move and shadows from still objects differ. Sometimes objects do not move but their shadows do.

When Arlene shared a sample of a picture of shadows, I pondered how children might think and draw about their shadows . Initally children drew the shadows of their friends at the carpark.. Then they drew shadow images of their friends on the paper. It was tough for friends to keep still. But what was even more challenging was drawing their own shadows. They shared that it was nearly impossible after trying.  Watching a shadow drama on youtube helped children realise that they could actually form different shapes with their body. 

Sometimes the shadows do not look anything like how we expect them to be. E.g. Caitlin formed the shape of a table but the shadow formed under her was different from the shadow that appeared on the side wall. The shadow did not appear like a table on the floor. Sometimes they look abstract and formless but at times they look like something else, decieving our eyes.

This was what children shared:

Jordan: Can you see an elephant spraying water? Can you see a lion eating a Zebra? Can you see a giraffe trying to fight a tiger? Oops! I forgot to draw the tiger!

Xi Wen: Can you see a giraffe? Can you see a dinosaur? Can you see a sea-lion? Can you see a chair and a castle?

Lin Jia Wen: Can you see an elephant eating a carrot? Can you see a Prince and a Princess?

Oliver: Can you see a lion growling?

Leeann: Can you see a panda at the Zoo? Can you see the Prince and Princess too?

Emilia: Can you see a giraffe eating leaves? Can you see a human shadow?

Caitlin: Can you see lines inside each of the shadows? But how can a shadow dance by itself?

Advaith: Can you see armours here? Can you see a dinosaur roaring?

Aahan: Can you see a shadow of a lepoard? Can you see the shadows on my name?

Avinaash: Can you see the shadow of a tiger? Can you see the shadow of a tall building and a house?

Warm Regards,

Rachel

The 3-4 year old artists from EtonHouse Bilingual Pre-school in Singapore are making and sharing art with the 3-4 year old artists from Oakdale Montessori Preschool in Cape Town, South Africa.

Cy Twombly and shadow self portraits

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Here are pics of a few of our shadow drawings. The children used different mark making techniques in white crayon around their shadows to had more complexity to their works.

We looked at Cy Twombly's paintings to think about mark making. Catching our shadows was actually a little challenging as we had some cloudy days here this winter! Plenty of sun now however! 

Thank you,
Liz

KG2B class from Collegiate American School in Dubai, United Arab Emirates are making and sharing art with Class 1 from Sneinton C of E Primary School in Nottingham, UK.

Experimenting with experience

We experimented with light and shadows of various objects. We used flashlights, daylight, doc. camera light...... Unfortunately, there was no sun today and we couldn't experiment with the sun light. This is what the kids discovered: 

- Shadows appear if there is a source of light. We experimented with flashlights to see the shadows of various objects around the classroom.

- The size of the shadows change depending on the distance of the object from the source of light

- Some students used the day light to see the shadows of real objects. They noticed a difference in shadows created by flashlight and daylight.

We learned how the light travels, what happens to the light when passing through objects.  We will continue exploring shadows and light building rich imagination and creating our self-portraits.  We are sending pictures from our class exploration on shadows.  

They worked together, observed, tried, made errors and tried again which is huge experience in character building.   

I can't wait to see what would their self-portraits look like.

Thank you!

Dance A-V

The 4th graders from Ryerson Public School in Cambridge, Canada are making and sharing art with the 10 years olds from Kepa School in Karelia, Russia. 

***

Мы использовали фонарики, дневной свет, вспышку от фотоаппарата. К сожалению, солнца в тот день не было, поэтому не смогли поработать с солнечным светом. 

Вот что нового наши дети узнали:

- Тень появляется, когда есть источник света. Мы рассмотрели тени от разных предметов в нашей классной комнате.

- Размер тень зависит от расстояния между источником света и предметом.

- Мы поговорили о различии между тенью от естественного и искусственного источника света. 

Мы узнали, как свете перемещается сквозь предметы. Мы продолжаем изучать свет и тень, и создавать с их помощью свои автопортреты. Интересно, какие же они получатся!

Спасибо!

Welcome home!

The children loved this assignment! 

How to fold and cut and which way to crease the paper was a great experience for the children. 

The kids love the assignments and your projects inspire them to look for various art work with attention to how that particular art work is made. They think as artists. 

Thank you,
Dance A. Vasileska

The 4th graders from Ryerson Public School in Cambridge, Canada are making and sharing art with the 10 years olds from Kepa School in Karelia, Russia. 

Listening to who is there

We introduced this theme in a very special way. The class sat in a big circle and closed their eyes. The played the Montessori “Silence Game” which is a calming, meditation like game which allows the child to use their senses like hearing. Once they closed their eyes, I asked them to tell me what they can hear.

- The trees in the wind
- The birds chirping
- The doorbell ringing

We got the children to paint, colour in and stick paper to make 3 sounds that they heard.

Enjoy our art project! 

Love,
Oakdale Montessori 3-6 years class

The 3-6 year old artists at Oakdale Montessori School in Cape Town, South Africa are making and sharing art with the 3-4 year old artists from EtonHouse Bilingual Pre-school in Singapore and the 1st and 2nd graders from Grunnskóli Fjallabyggðar in Siglufjörður, Iceland.

Playing with light and shadow!

Everybody is so excited to receive artwork from their friends in Dubai!

Everybody is so excited to receive artwork from their friends in Dubai!

Everybody is so excited to receive artwork from their friends in Dubai!

Once again I find myself amazed by the kids response to this experience. Earlier this week we got mail from our friends in Dubai and you could love their faces looking at the houses of their friends abroad, the names of the kids in Dubai were a sensation because they are so different from their names. 

Today we got to explore our shadows and we went outside, in pairs they helped each other trace their shadows and some of them even made silly poses. They had a blast! Then we came back to the classroom and they did the dame using our projector's light to trace the shadow of a part of their body. The cool thing was seeing them trying to come up with cool shapes for their friends!"

Saludos,
Mrs. Vicke Benavides

The 6 year olds in Prepri C from Colegio San Patricio in Monterrey, Mexico are making and sharing art with the 4-6 year olds in KG2C from Collegiate American School in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Have a seat in our home!

All the Monkeys were very eager to share what their homes are like. What a welcoming bunch of artists! We described what our homes look like, what kind of textures we can find there, even what kind of smells would be cooking in the kitchen. We got us really inspired was thinking about what part of our home is the most comforting. Using pop-up techniques, collage, and drawing we recreated our favorite part of our home!

Ka: This is my panda lying down on the sofa. The curtains and windows are here. There are two doors at my house. The house is white.

Ol: THis is my teddy bear. I have a sofa, door, and my house is brown.

Aa: I have a tv and a painting on the wall.

No: There is dust in my home. There are chairs and tables.

Cs: I have a couch and my dad and brother are at home. I see the table, bedroom, and my toys.

Iu: I have a table and my dolls, my computer, my toy cat, my pencils, sofa and chair, and fish.

Er: My couch, carpet, and door.

Ak: I have lamps, carpet, sofa and a teddy bear.

Lu: I see the sky and the tv and chairs.

We hope our friends in Dubai like our artwork and welcome to Finland!

With love,
The Monkeys, Arlene, Ben, and Atefeh

The 6 year old Monkeys from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing with the 4-6 year olds in KG2D from Collegiate American School in Dubai, U.A.E. 

Saying so much through art works!

We received the package from South Africa today – and the kids were so relieved, they have been waiting for so long, they said.

It also took more time than we thought to finish the home´s project.  But the kids loved it so much, some of them put more than their family members on the picture like some zombies (might be an influence from computer games). On most of them you can see that the children are thinking about summer, even cherry-trees (which don´t grow here) are in one garden.

All the best,
Halla and Guðný

The 1st and 2nd graders from Grunnskóli Fjallabyggðar in Siglufjörður, Iceland are making and sharing art with the preschoolers from Oakdale Preschool in Cape Town.

We took a picture today of the kids playground, we have had snow today.

Welcome home! Stories from Singapore

When we realised that the topic on 'Building a Home' has come up again after Lay of the Land, there was a room for doubt about how differently children might react to the same theme with little twist in the provocations. 

Our children gave physical descriptions of their homes by talking about the shapes and surfaces and made comparisons with their peers'. 

During our whole group meeting, children shared about how they could connect all their pop-up homes and make a City not realising that it was the intention of the Author too. 

Interviewing each child based on the suggested questions gave us an insight about individuality in their thinking. Creating a pop-up home encouraged children to think about dimensions in their homes. They loved it.

Your home says so much about you. What is your home like?  Is it in an apartment complex or is it a single building with a garden?  What do the surfaces of your home feel like? Think about others who live in this home. What if you could fold up your home and take it everywhere with you? What parts of your home would you want to carry with you on your travels?

Avinaash: My house has a rectangle roof. There is an automatic door too. There is another door which you need to use the key to open. It is a single building with a garden. The floor usually feels cold. My daddy, Mummy, me and my brother and my Grandmother stay with me. I would love to take my plane room along with me wherever I go. There are many toys in that room.

Jing Ru: My house has a rectangle roof. There is a gate at the garden. There is a staircase near the garden. The staircase will take us to the shoe-rack where we put our shoes. It is a single building with a medium sized garden. My Mummy, Daddy, me and my two aunties stay there. I have a very big dog too. I would like to carry my playroom along with me where ever I go. It makes me feel happy.

Emilia: My home has a dining area and there is where you walk then you see the study room and then you can see my room and then my Mummy’s and Daddy’s room. I have a balcony. I have a tricycle out at the balcony and a small scooter and one balance bike. I live in a condominium where many people stay in one building. There are three swimming pools at my place. My sofa feels soft. My floor feels hard. I would love to bring my room wherever I go because it makes me happy.

Caitlin: My house has lots of pointy things outside. The driveway of the hall is cracking. It is very old. There are rectangular windows on the first floor which are very big. They don’t have grills. You can just unlock it by pulling something up that makes a click sound and slide the window. I feel that my home is bigger than the school but I don’t think so because it only has two levels. I would love to bring my toy room along with me wherever I go because it has many toys. I have got a lot of games to play with you.

Jiang Xi Wen: There are many trees near my house. When I take the lift, I see some lights in the lift. Once the door opens you need to walk to the house with the white door. When you open the door you will see my brother making a tree. He is making a decoration. My mummy, Daddy, brother and sister stay with me. I like to bring my kitchen wherever I go because there is so much fun in there. I can make bubbles in the kitchen by filling a cup with water and adding soap.

Aahan: My home is white and green. I live in a tall building together with other people. It also has other condos. My sofa is soft and the wall is hard. My floor has some kind of rock designs on it. My Mummy, Daddy, brother and aunty stay with me. My friend Etsa visits me sometimes. I like my bedroom the most and would like to take it along wherever I go. I have a bed which opens up. You can find some pillows, blankets and bed-sheets in there.

Oliver: There is one bed for my Papa and Mama and one bed for my sister and a bed for me. I have one big pool and two small swimming pools. My sister likes to play in the toy room. The toys are supposed to be in the living room but they are on my bed. There is a garden next to my home. My floor is smooth and white. I would love to take my toy room wherever I go. I can play the toys. But when it is time for us to go out, we cannot play.

Lin Jia Wen: I live with my Mom, Dad, brother and my aunty. My sofa feels rough. My floor is white. But the floor in my Mummy’s room is brown. My brother’s room and my room are also brown. My house is in a tall building. Other people also stay in the building. There is a car park outside my house. My Mummy parks her car there. I like my room the most. I would like to bring my room wherever I go because my Mummy allows me to draw on my own room wall.

Jordan: My house is like a nature park because there are many flowers and plants growing in my garden. My Mom and uncle grow them. My Daddy, Mummy, sister and aunty stay in my house. I have two pet dogs and one cat. My cat is a good climber. You will see my door and staircase when you enter my house. I have a baby doll in my room. I would like to bring my bike wherever I go.

Advaith: In my living room, the floor has got some square patterns. In my room, the flooring is similar to those in my classroom, wood floor, goldenish brown. The walls are bumpy as though they have mini mountains on the walls. My parents share the home with me. My house is on level three but there are people living above my level. I would love to bring my own bedroom wherever I go because it is so full of toys (although it is not possible).

Julian: My bedroom has powder, body-cream and toys. I also have train tracks and trains. My floor has square patterns and marks on it. My wall is smooth and white. My sofa’s armrest is hard. The back part is also hard. The bottom is cushion and is so soft. My Mummy, Daddy, Grandpa, Grandma, Tita, Oli and Kristin share the home with me. I have a muslin blanket on my bed to smell and fall asleep.

Zhu Yu Hang: My house has a lift. I live on the third floor. I have to take the lift everyday to go back home. My house is grey. There is swimming pool down stairs. There is a toy in my house. It is my favourite. It is a rocket. I take it wherever I go.

Warm Regards,
Rachel & Nan Nan

The 3-4 year old artists from EtonHouse Bilingual Pre-school in Singapore are making and sharing art with the 3-4 year old artists from Oakdale Montessori Preschool in Cape Town, South Africa.

The thinking child- Building understanding of the world

Children were conversing about hearing the Rooster crow in the mornings. But did they really hear the rooster crow or was it something they have read from books? (In Singapore, we do not have farms. We could probably find chickens at the Singapore Bird Park). They shared that sometimes they hear things but don’t get to see the things. E.g. noisy garbage truck,  birds chirping, dogs barking. The children were given an opportunity to think about their individual environment  and the noises heard. Even the noises heard at school differ from that at home and sometimes similar. Children expressed themselves through drawing (paper, markers and pencils) and spoke about them.

Warm Regards,
Rachel

The 3-4 year old artists from EtonHouse Bilingual Pre-school in Singapore are making and sharing art with the 3-4 year old artists from Oakdale Montessori Preschool in Cape Town, South Africa.

Making it real from Mexico!

This project went great, kids were really excited about their houses popping out of the paper and they got magazines cut outs to accessorize and try to make it as similar as possible. 

Mrs. Vicke Benavides

The 6 year olds in Prepri C from Colegio San Patricio in Monterrey, Mexico are making and sharing art with the 4-6 year olds in KG2C from Collegiate American School in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Hearing sounds like walking in the snow

They closed their eyes and to make sure no one was using their eyes, they put their hats over their eyes as you can see on the pictures attached.

Some of them were „hearing“ sound of nature, like wind and walking in the snow, but most of them thought of sounds of machines, washing machine, cars, hammer and also f. ex shouting of their sisters and brothers at home.

They were trying their best – and they could stay quiet while they listened.

Guðný and Halla.

The 1st and 2nd graders from Grunnskóli Fjallabyggðar in Siglufjörður, Iceland are making and sharing art with the preschoolers from Oakdale Preschool in Cape Town.

Exploring what a home means to us

We started by asking ourselves what home means to us. Then we went outside and in pairs, pretended we were visiting each other's homes. We described our homes, what they look like, what is outside in our gardens, playground, etc. then we came back in the classroom. We closed our eyes and imagined we were coming home from school. What does our front door look like? Do we live in a villa or apartment building? What is outside our home? We thought about these details and then began by making a drawing of our homes. Half way through class we came together and shared a few drawings. We made positive comments and then added one or two things that we thought could be added to the drawings shown, like the people who live in the home, the number of the house, etc. we also talked about what makes Dubai different from other places. What types of trees do we have (Palm and others), are the shapes of our roofs and villas unique? Then we went back to our seats and added more details. In the second class we reviewed our drawings and used them to help us create the pop up card in color.

Thank you,
Liz

Below are photos of KG2E art works.

KG2E class from Collegiate American School in Dubai, United Arab Emirates are making and sharing art with the Tigers from Your School in Espoo, Finland.

Below are selected artworks from KG2D.

KG2D are making and sharing art with the Monkeys. The young artists are 4-6 years old.

Our rooms in our house

The pop up house was interesting! We hadn't done anything like this before so we had practice at cutting scrap paper first.

The children were very excited to represent their lives through a room in their house and tried hard to find things from a catalogue that looked like their furniture. They like making their room come to life and it sparked a conversation about different kinds of beds!

The 5 and 6 year old artists in Class 1 at Sneinton C of E Primary School in Nottingham, England are making and sharing art with the 4 to 6 years olds in KG2B at Collegiate American School in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

We are larger than life!

Toti, Zeynab and the Tigers were getting ready to create pop ups! They could not wait to show me and their friends in Dubai the dinosaur helmets they made!

We started the workshop with taking a mental journey to our home. What do you we see in the living room? Which couch do we like to snuggle up on? How does that couch feel? After taking a tour we looked closely at different kinds of texture. We then practiced different drawing techniques on how to create texture.  Putting all of our knowledge together we created our pop-up homes that tried to capture what we like the most in the place we feel at peace.

Nit: A chair I use to relax. All my family can sit on it. It's gray, black and white and it's very smooth.

Neh: I have a sofa in my living room I use to relax and watch tv. It's made of hard cushions. I also have an eating chair.

Raf: I have a soft bed with pillows. My home is very colorful.

Vih: I have a gym room in my home where my mommy keeps my cloths. I have a toy dinosaur that is rough and I play with it.

Ume: My home has a seat in the living room. We eat there. Our seat is big. It's cold and icy, it's blue and yellow. We have pictures of stars, moons, and snowflakes.

Pau: This is my sofa. It's in my living room and it's white. It's a little bit hard and it's made of wood.

Adr: In my home there is a sofa in the middle and there are some decorations on the carpet. The sofa has white, red, green and brown decorations on it. The sofa is made of wood and has comfortable cushions.

Dha: This is my home when I was a baby. The sofa was brought by my mom and dad. And while my big sister was at school I always sat on the sofa with my mommy. The sofa is brown. It was soft and comfortable, but now it's a bit old.

Lil: This is my kitchen where I eat food. There are 2 chairs. One is my sister Elle's and the other one is mine. My chair is made out of wood and some soft material.

Ath: Here is my living room. There is a big tv and black curtains. We sit on the ground and chairs. The ground is soft and brown. I like to sit on the ground to watch tv.

Welcome, friends, to our home!

With love,
The Tigers, Arlene, Toti, and Zeynab

The 4-5 year old Tigers from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing with the 4-6 year olds in KG2E from Collegiate American School in Dubai, U.A.E. 

How many sounds are there?!?!

The children were surprised at how many different sounds there were! Some children said our world is very noisy and that wouldn't it be sad if we couldn't hear. We wondered if our friends in United Arab Emirates would hear the same sounds.

The 5 and 6 year old artists in Class 1 at Sneinton C of E Primary School in Nottingham, England are making and sharing art with the 4 to 6 years olds in KG2B at Collegiate American School in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Mapping the sounds from Germany to UAE

As part of the process, the class made a map of sounds!

This project was a bit difficult for me to conceptualize and present in an easy-to-understand manner. Because English is not the mother tongue of most of my kids, I thought they would have a hard time "picturing" what sound looks like. But I did my best and gave the children fingerpaint and let them go wild. 

To my surprise, many of them "got it" and what looked like colorful messes had a logic behind it. One boy in particular, who many describe as older than his 4 years, told me which colors corresponded to the quiet and nosy times of our day at the kindergarten. Pink is quiet, like our lunch time. But our morning circle is blue because it is loud. Green is quiet with some loud times. 

The surface that I gave the children to paint on was plain white paper with a pair of ears on the left and right side. They all recognized the ears and some painted the entire surface with wild abandon, while other concentrated on decorating the ears first and then coloring the empty space between them. 

When all the pieces were finished, I wanted something that would show the thought process of the children individually and the class as a whole. So I decided to create a map of the world and use the children's artwork to create a patchwork of the continents. Each patch was clearly marked with the child's name, so that they could find it on the map. The boy I spoke about earlier applied his color logic to the map and theorized that different areas of the world must be quiet or loud according to the color of the patches used. 

Sound art from Dubai for their friends in Espoo!

First, we watched a video about how our ears receive sound waves. The children had learned already about the 5 senses so we asked ourselves: which of these senses do artists use? Then the students closed their eyes and listened while I made sounds with different items. We tried to draw those sounds using different types of lines. Then we sat outside and listened to the sounds we heard:  birds, planes, cars and trucks, helicopters, children playing, footsteps.

In the second class we talked about the idea of things that happen “earlier” and “later” and spoke about activities we do in these periods. We tried to remember and predict “earlier” and “later” activities and to draw them.

Below are selected artworks from KG2E.

The kids found listening to the sounds outside really fun. Sometimes it was hard to remain quiet and just listen but then we enjoyed the process. What did your kids think about it? Was it challenging? Trying to draw the things that makes sounds from earlier and later periods was a bit tougher for us but we liked thinking about all the things we do outside of school. We drew things like brushing our teeth, playing, eating, and driving in our cars. In Dubai we have to do a lot of driving because the city is big and spread out. We also have big high ways.

What is it like in Helsinki? What animals live there? Do you walk, or take buses or trains to school? What is the weather like? We can sit outside now in shorts and t-shirts in Dubai but soon it will be too hot.

KG2E class from Collegiate American School in Dubai, United Arab Emirates are making and sharing art with the Tigers from Your School in Espoo, Finland. KG2D are making and sharing art with the Monkeys. The young artists are 4-6 years old.

Below are selected artworks from KG2D.