Arts Explorer #10 - Community Arts Project

For our Community Arts Project our group took on the role to promote sun safety and raise skin cancer awareness.  We believe this is a social justice issue as the importance of sun safely and the dangers caused by the sun is not focused towards young children.  It is very important that children learn the facts about the dangers of the sun and begin to be sun smart from a young age.  In order to get this message across to children, we have created a "fun in the sun day" where children in local schools will have the opportunity to get outdoors and participate in activities involving lessons on how to be sun smart and learning the facts about the sun.  Stations will involve cooperative games and sports, a hydration station, a sunscreen station, and stations with puzzles and games about sun safely and skin cancer.  Parents will also be educated on the importance of teaching sun safety to their children and will be provided with information from the Canadian Cancer Society.  The Toronto District School Board will set us up with local school that will participate in the "fun in the sun day". 

Art word of the week:  shape

Shape is the physical form an enclosed 2D or 3D object represents with edges and curves.  Shape was used in these posters to help spread the message of sun safety.  Shape can be abstract or realistic.  In the first poster here, shape was used to emphasize the damage the sun can cause with a fresh grape and a dried out grape.  In the second poster, shape was used in a fun way to change the shadow of the sunscreen bottle into a dinosaur shape.

I believe that the "fun in the sun day" created by our group would be a great idea to implement into schools in order to get this message across to young children.  It would be a fun and engaging day to educate children about the dangers of the sun and teach them things they can do that will benefit them and their skin.  Sun safety should be taught early so that it can become part of the children's lifestyle.

3 days after completing Guerilla Art!

I am excited to share that 3 days after putting my Guerilla Art in the washroom of a local coffee shop, it is still there!!!!

Arts Explorer #9 - Guerilla Art

For me, thinking abstract must begin somewhere simple.  I was stumped when asked to create a piece of Guerilla Art, so I went to a Coffee Culture close to my house where I often go to do school work.  After looking through some examples of Guerilla Art that online and with the inspiration of a friend, I came to a decision. 

I created a small poster that says "Smile, you look beautiful" in bright, colourful writing with flowers and smiley faces and posted it in the female washroom at this coffee shop near my house. 

After posting my sign in the washroom, I caught another person looking at it as I waited for my friend.  This person giggled and had a huge smile on her face.  My Guerilla Art put a smile on someones face, and I left it there in hopes to brighten up the smiles of others.

Art word of the week:         S P A C E

Space is the amount of room given to arrange physical elements, or the lack of room left in between physical objects.  Guerilla Art has a big connection to space.  Artists have all the space in the world to display their art work, and it is up to them to decide how much of it to use.  Guerilla Art can be spread across the biggest space possible, posting it in different countries, or in a small space by posting it within one room.

Within the field of ECE, forms of Guerilla Art are displayed in the classroom when educators post children's art work in the classroom.  As children create art work, they are creating an image that depicts howthey are feeling or a message they are trying to send.  Educators can make more specific forms of Guerilla art and venture out into the community or onto the play ground to post childrens work.  This is a fun and easy way of sharing children's creativity with friends, family, and the community.

Art Explorer #8 - Pretend Play & Magical Thinking

This is my friend.  His name is Sun Burnt Stefano!  Stefano is from Italy and he LOVES to travel.  His first language is Italian, however he has learned to speak English as he has many family members in Canada.  Stefano has learned to speak Spanish, Portugese, and French over his time spent travelling.  He has travelled Europe, South Africa, the United States of America, and Canada.  Although he loves playing all sports, Stefano's absolute favourite sport is soccer.  Recently on his travels to Miami, he got carried away in an intense game of beach soccer.  He forgot to reapply his sunscreen and is now suffering from a bad sun burn!  Stefano is very forgetful, so he needs help from his friends and family to remember to do things.  Unfortunately, everyone was so into this soccer match that no one remembered to tell Stefano to reapply his sun screen!  He is pretty upset because his friends think that he should start travelling to places where it is not so hot and sunny.  But Stefano said that it is his passion to travel and nothing will stop him!


Art word of the week:   texture

Texture is the feel or look of the surface of an object or material.  It can be rough, smooth, bumpy, shiny rubbery, or fuzzy.  I used materials with different textures to bring my friend Sun Burnt Stefano to life.  The dish cloth used as his body is a soft material; however, I used a rougher texture to create his bathing suit.  It is important to have many different textures in the classroom for children to explore, especially at a young age when children explore most through their senses. 

In early childhood settings children are always seen using objects in ways other than what they are normally used for.  This is a great activity to bring into the classroom to teach children how to use their imagination and go farther that changing the use of an object.  Tell children to create a whole story to their object.  Notice if children bring themselves into their objects or if they tie in aspects of culture that they are noticing in their friends!

Arts Explorer #7 - Shopping with a Twist

Art word of the week:  Mass or Volume

A solid, 3D object that can be transformed and reproduced in a different way.  For example, you can take solid ice cubes, strawberries, and milk, mix it all up in a blender and these ingredients combined make a strawberry milkshake. 

Strawberries

1.  Strawberry smoothie

2.  Strawberry jam

3.  Strawberry cheesecake

4.  Chocolate covered strawberries

5.  Strawberry sauce

6.  Strawberry shortcake

7.  Strawberry candy

8.  Strawberry sorbet

9.  Strawberry daiquiri

10.  Strawberry tarts

11.  Strawberry cream cheese

12.  Strawberry pie

13.  Strawberry mousse

14.  Strawberry lemon squares

15.  Fruit pizza pie

16.  Strawberry trifle

17.  Strawberry punch

18.  Strawberry milkshake

Strawberry Cheesecake

Strawberry Milkshake

Strawberry Sorbet



Food is a creative and tastey way to tie lessons of mass and volume into the classroom.  Brainstorming different things you can make with one specific type of food is a great way to get children thinking about variety.  There are so many choices when it comes to flavours and foods and this activity can allow children to make connection between different items that use the same ingredients.