After we sketched the traveling path, we flipped through old issues of Parent magazines and started clipping. I worked with the scissors while Ava glued them on...
And before we knew it, we had covered our gameboard with more pictures than we anticipated. So we decided to call it a story board - and here, Ava holds up her board and tells a story about the duck who was trying to cross the road and "looked both ways" before crossing...
So even though we didn't have an agenda when starting this art project - the time together, and process working on it, was the artful beauty in itself.
Create your own storyboard
1. We go through our recycle bins for inspiration - because when packages are repurposed, they are a whole lot more interesting. Last night's pizza did double duty here... Shoe boxes are another idea...
2. Magazines - I like to keep my parenting issues on the hap chance that I'll use them as references when needed - but who has time? So I contributed some issues to the project and most of the pages that were cut were advertisments anyway. If you don't subscribe to any magazines, pick up the free parenting guides you'll find at your local library or grocery store. What I like about "parenting" magazines is that more than likely you'll find visuals that are kid-friendly.
2. Glue - you can't just have one. Paper items require the delicate streaks from gluesticks, but for heavier or odd shaped items - we love using Aleene's Tacky Glue.
3. Let your kids decide the steps. Sometimes our natural parenting through a process like this would be to clean up along the way, or suggest where to paste items... do this.. don't do that... and so on. But I can't stress enough the importance of letting them work through something like this in its entirety. Parents can engage in projects like this by being the "assistant" - In other words, don't disengage yourself - stand back and watch - but work alongside your child and be there to help. Not only will you be modeling favorable behaviour, but you're also letting your child's creativity take center stage.
Happy storytelling!
how fun! something I can look forward to as hamza approaches preschool age. I loved what you had to say in step 3. Its so true - as parents we tend to take over rather than guide. Something I never really thought about before but will start paying attention to the next time my kiddos take on a project. I should start doing this with my husband too. you know so they think that they are "in control"
ReplyDeleteYou're hilarious! Yes - it's hard at first doing that. But after "controlling" her art projects before, I would realize that it wasn't a "fun" experience - it was more stressful. And just because she wants me there, next to her, she'd just say, "ok mommy" and do what I tell her. What's the art in that? Our experiences are so much more fun now, and she gets an extra boost of confidence knowing that she did it all by herself!
ReplyDeleteOh, and this theory definitely works well on husbands too ;)