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.

Abstract styles from Nottingham!!

We looked at pics on the internet of under the sea. The children were keen on making a list of all the animals that live under the sea.

Here are some snippets of conversations....

I think it's nice and warm
It might be dark and a bit scary
I like it in the dark... you can see awesome things under the sea
I think it's beautiful under the sea
I would like to look at all the animals under the sea
I like colouring it's fun because when you have finished you can play with it.
Spider fish
Electric Eel
Starfish
Swordfish
Seahorse
Elephant fish
Octopus
Hammerhead Shark
Stingray
Flying fish
Clownfish
John Dory
Puffer fish
Dolphin
Whale
Killer whale
Great white shark

Nina Evans

The 5 and 6 year olds in Class 1 from Sneinton C of E Primary School in Nottingham, UK are making and sharing art with the 5 and 6 year olds in Prepri C from Colegio San Patricio in Monterrey, Mexico.

Fresh air makes for a creative environment!

Dear Friends,

After enjoying the creation, fresh air, the wonderful sun and lovely coloured grass, we sat in a circle and imagined our favourite character. We talked about where our character lives, the surroundings and the colours in the environment. The children then used their pencils and created the different colours and patterns on the spirals.

We hope you enjoy our Art from the Early Childhood class at Oakdale Montessori!

The 4 to 6 year olds in the Early Childhood Class from Oakdale Preschool in Cape Town, South Africa are making and sharing art with Kinder C classes from Colegio San Patricio in Monterrey, Mexico.

For many reasons, we are happy Monkeys!

The happy Monkeys just got happier!  They were very excited to receive the lovely letter and artworks from K2B class in Mexico.  Every part of the process was exciting- from reading the names of our friends to talking about Elmer the Elephant!  Thank you! Kiitos! Gracias!

We first started talking about what we see when we walk out of the school.  What is the environment like outside of Your School's doorstep?  Monkeys talked about pine trees, birds, bushes, and now we have snow.  Now the grass is covered with white snow.

Then we continued with our characters and where their homes are.  We imagined if we were at our friend's home and stepped outside, what would we find.  How would it look in the daytime and what about at nighttime?  The Monkeys first used wax crayons to accentuate and outline shapes.  When they painted over with watercolor this art technique helped highlight what they were trying to show in their painting.

K2B, we have a couple of questions for you.  Do you have snow in Mexico?  What do you like to do for fun?

We hope you like our artworks and we look forward to hearing from you!

Our best,
Arlene & the Monkeys

The 5-6 year old Monkeys from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with the 5-6 year olds from Colegio Bosques de las Cumbres in Monterrey, Mexico.

SpongeBob is like the sun :)

The children worked in pairs for this project. They really enjoyed the stickiness and the thought that the Mexican children would actually receive this art.

They love the SpongeBob films and noticed how he is a happy character and that yellow is a happy colour, like the sun. Doing him with tissue paper they thought was like his sponge body and using the transparent plastic was like under the water!!!

Best wishes,
Nina Evans

The 5 and 6 year olds in Class 1 from Sneinton C of E Primary School in Nottingham, UK are making and sharing art with the 5 and 6 year olds in Prepri C from Colegio San Patricio in Monterrey, Mexico.

The story gets even more exciting with the Monkeys!

We started off the session by telling each other stories about our characters, which we had made from the previous Dear You art workshop in Lights, Camera, Action!.  From then on, it was a smooth flow as to how to develop our ideas when creating our homes for the characters in Layers of Love.  We took each other on an imaginary adventure to discover what's on the inside and on the outside of our home.  As we scratching away the top layer the Monkeys realized that they could manipulate what they would like to reveal about the inside of the house.

Can you see which picture matches the artist's description?

K: I have an apple tree and pear tree and strawberries in my yard.

E: I have many strawberries in my backyard. There is a forest nearby.

VIO: My house is white. There is a forest and there are blueberries in the forest.

O: My house is brown and there are some trees around it.

VIG: It has many door and many flies.

N: My house is black. My room is so big.

L: It's white and super large.

J: It's long and it has a big room.

VE: It's white and big and beautiful!

A: It's white and almost big.

P: My house is big and the door is brown. The floor is brown because it's made of wood.

I: My house is a rainbow from the outside.

AA: I have a forest, terrace, trampoline, and black door in my house.

AL: I have a green house with a dark brown roof.

E: My house is red and black. There are trees around it.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you!

With love,
Arlene and the Monkeys

The 5-6 year old Monkeys from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with the 5-6 year olds from Colegio Bosques de las Cumbres in Monterrey, Mexico.

From Inside to Outside, the layers are exposed

The artistic boys at Espoon kuvataidekoulu (Espoo's Visual Arts School) had fun creating the inside and outside of their character's home using scratch art technique.

When everybody came into the studio, on the tables were their characters they had sculpted out of clay and then painted.  They were so happily surprised to see how their figures changed when fired in the oven!  These were the characters they invented for the first project, Lights, Camera, Action! and have been continued into the following project, Layers of Love.

After some discussion about their characters we moved on to where they live.  Everybody had a unique response.  We first created what their home looks like on the inside.  The colors they chose also help convey the feeling of the place.  The artists were a bit wary of painting over the oil pastel drawings, but once they understood how scratch art technique worked, they got very involved with drawing the outside of their home.

Each one is unique and tells their own story!  We hope our friends in Mexico like these artworks!

With love,
Arlene

The 6 year old artists from Espoon kuvataidekoulu in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with Prepri A, the group of 6 year old artists from San Patricio Colegio in Monterrey, Mexico.

Espoon kuvataidekoulu creates with their new friends!

The 6 year old artist at Espoon kuvataidekoulu were very excited to find out that they have friends in Mexico!  We looked on the map where Mexico is and when we looked at pictures we saw that it seems very hot and dry climate. We already have so many questions!

What language do you speak?
Is it fun in Mexico?
What about the houses and buildings in Monterrey? What are they like?

Our artworks continued from character drawings we have been creating.  We have characters that are self-portraits, from Pikachu, and from our imagination.

Thank you and we look forward to meeting you!

With love,
Arlene, Eliisa, and artists from Espoo Visual Arts School

The 6 year old artists from Espoon kuvataidekoulu in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with Prepri A, the group of 6 year old artists from San Patricio Colegio in Monterrey, Mexico.

What am I? Oh what could I be?

We first started the workshop by playing a riddle game.  This got our brains thinking about how can we tell things about an object without giving it away!  From there we went into the world of senses and on this adventure- it was all about taste!  We thought about what foods are local to Nordic countries and what foods are not.  It seems that most of Your School's artists love picking berries from the beautiful forests of Finland!  Can you guess what the Monkeys' and the Tigers' favorite foods are?

The Tigers are 4 year old artists at Your School in Espoo, Finland.  They are making and exchanging art with the Puppies, 4 year old artists at Just Kids School in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The Monkeys at Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with the Full Moons from Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, PA.

The Monkeys have made great travel companions for their friends at Moonstone Preschool

Ask the Monkeys for some travel advice and they will offer every kind of possibility! From buses to trains to rockets. This all came about when we were figuring out how our Imagine Me puppets are going to reach our new friends at Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, USA. Finland is quite a ways from there, but we are up for an adventure!

As we were creating our puppets we thought about what makes a good friend and here are some things the Monkeys said about their imaginative artworks. Meet Seek. Seek is a good friend because "he helps me when I need help," says J. N's puppet's name is Elsa. "She's a good friend because she's nice to me." I's Stella is "fun and playing with everybody. Listening to the teacher and doing everything herself." E called her friend Rosey. "Rosey is nice. She helps me get the way out." A's puppet Super Savior "saves me when I'm in danger!" M's puppet is a boat named Oh No. When I asked M why Oh No is a good friend, she said, "She makes me laugh." I think that's one of the most important characteristics a friend should have too!

Thanks for the lovely afternoon, Monkeys!

With love,
Arlene

The Monkeys (6 years old) from Your School in Espoo, Finland are making and sharing art with the Full Moons (5 years old) from Moonstone Preschool in Philadelphia, USA.