Back In Play!

The Room 4 Blog is "back in play".
The process of adapting to the updated Blogger site proved more challenging than expected, yet all is well again. Here are some highlights of our past week.



THE BOX PROJECT
The a shipment of new furnishings for the school meant one thing above all others: BOXES. More specifically (and spectacularly), large boxes. The large cardboard box is, quite simply the BEST TOY IN THE WORLD. Better than trucks, better than dolls, evn better than any high tech toy with a leaping frog on it is the ubiquitous cardboard box. Three reasons why:

1. SCALE. The cardboard box is 1:1 scale. That means it is not a miniature model of something else, but a true-to-life item that fits perfectly to the child's size.
2. IMAGINATIVE. It is everything a child can imagine, providing a platform for creative thinking and logical storylines. True, they don't seem logical sometimes, but a close observation reveals participants making sense of their world and organizing their thoughts. This is a key component for cognitive processing and acuiring new information. Within 15 minutes time, our structure was a castle, a rocket ship, a tiger cave, a haunted house and even a machine, a la Charlie Chaplin in "Modern Times."
3. INEXPENSIVE. Call an appliance/furniture store a few days in advance and they're usually free. At the very most you spend a couple bucks a piece for some large, sturdy, moving boxes and you're ready for takeoff! Note: a roll of heavy duty packing tape is essential when combining boxes.
   

Stage 1: PAINTING
The students had a great time painting these huge boxes with different sized rollers, layering colors and sharing observations of color changes that occurred when mixed and blended in different ways. The simple act of working on a vertical form that they could move around was a new experience, particulary when four rollers were lapping. Those boxes changed noticibly with each time around!

Stage 2: ARRANGING
This valuable stage is often overlooked. Here, children move the boxes around, shifting and changing the three dimensional space around them and the forms. One design had a "central patio" area that was nixed because it would only fit four territorial elbows at a time. Ultimately, we opted for a traditional tower with two galleries to provide adequate traffic flow through the structure.

Stage 3: CUTTING AND ASSEMBLY
A few simple windows, flaps and doors expands the functional possibilities greatly. Rather than cutting typical rectangle and square windows, I cut what shapes the students drew. The interesting part here is that the organic, rounded shapes they drew hold up far better than rectangles, where the corners inevitably tear loose and downward with repeated use and strain. They absolutely loved punching the shapes into the boxes once they were cut. This is why our building resembles cheese. Plus, the extracted shapes inspired a whole new extension to this project.

Stage 4: THE MOBILE
Art History, I love thee. Seeing all these flat organic shapes reminded me of the mobiles of Alexander Calder. Paramount in his work was an element not common to high art - fun. Paramount to this art form is the principle of BALANCE. Our initial lesson was in two parts:

1. Size Classification. We sorted the shapes in four groups - small, big, bigger, biggest. These were determined by which shapes fit between tape "stripes" on the floor, starting with the smallest.
2. Balancing Point. After connecting similar sized pieces, two to a stick, we sought the point of balance between each one. This enormously diffuclut task requires poise, patience, perseverence and a keen sense of touch. Once found, we'd mark that center of gravity with a crayon, so we'd know where to tie the string. Each successive round went a little faster.

All bets are off once we begin assembling them to one another. We'll likely be adjusting for a couple of weeks as the mobile sculpture grows. Since we have to begin with the smallest parts (subassemblies) first and work up to the larger, it will take a while. Hopefully our "architecture" will hold up that long. We have enough packing tape to make it last as long as Cher.

Here's a link to Calder's Circus on YouTube. It is just about the coolest thing you could ever show your child on video. Come to think of it, it's just about the coolest thing I've ever seen on video!

THAT'S ART WE CAN ALL ENJOY!