Art

Recently I was substituting in a kindergarten class in Alpine School District in Utah County. The children were playing with toys. One group of girls had a small bucket of toys that can be clicked together to form large chains. They told me there were going to connect them all to see how long it would be. Other children began to help. Soon, it stretched across the classroom.

“How long is it?” I asked them. They didn’t know. Someone suggested they use a ruler. I handed all 26 children a plastic ruler the length of one foot. I expected them to each count the feet as they moved their ruler along the “snake” as they called it. But no, they each laid it down alongside until they had 23 laid end to end. It was 23 feet almost exactly.

“Is there a snake this long in the world?” One of them asked me.

“I don’t know, let me ask Google!” I looked up the longest snake and connected it to the projector so they could follow along with my search. We found out that an anaconda can be more than 28 feet! The children gasped at the thought because they could visualize it by looking at their pretend snake.

I asked them if they would like to draw a snake. They all did! They all got the supplies they needed. They sat on the floor or at a desk. While substituting in the public schools, I’ve learned about a youtube channel called Art Hub for Kids. It is very popular with kids and teachers alike. We found a snake tutorial that seemed good for 5 year olds. They all carefully followed along with gusto. After they were finished, I asked them if they wanted to write the name of the snake at the top of their picture. They all did! I carefully wrote “Garter Snake” on the board and they copied the letters onto their papers. Many of them carefully put their picture in their backpack, they wanted to make sure they took them home.

This story is an example of how art can inform a spontaneous lesson. I have found as a teacher that organically moving between activities can be incredibly powerful and exciting to children. The connections and learning opportunities are incalculable.

Children think creatively, vividly, in images saturated with emotion. For the child to become intelligent and bright, it must be given the happiness of the artistic vision of the world in early childhood. My Heart I Give to Children, p 132

This experience watching the children draw a simple snake allowed me to witness this artistic vision of the world.