One of my first grade classes was short (25 minutes instead of 35), AND was missing 6 students. Rather than rush through the planned painting project and end up with a not-so-great products and a lot of kids with work to make up, we went into 'wing it' mode, and did more 'open ended' art.
No examples, no directions, just gave them the materials and let them go!
No examples, no directions, just gave them the materials and let them go!
This is what we came up with.....
really great collages made from old abandoned artwork.
"It's a Chinese Restaurant! 'Come and get your chicken and green beans!'"
"This is a really mean cat"
"There's a guy waiting for the bus, and there are two lights"
This reminded me of a recent post on Deep Space Sparkle about Open Ended Art. If you're an art teacher, or interested in art education, read the post AND the comments (it's a pretty good discussion)
I personally LOVE Open-Ended and Choice Based art. Though I don't have the organization or stamina to run an entirely choice-based art classroom, I think that incorporating days where the kids can just create without examples, modeling, directions.... is EXTREMELY important.
Hearing teachers, especially art teachers, say that kids NEED direction, or that we can't just expect them to CREATE something makes me a little bit sad....
I think that kids need to come up with their own ideas from scratch once in awhile, and that they should absolutely be expected to just CREATE something -
I love my projects that lean a little bit toward the 'cookie cutter' side once in awhile, but
I truly LOVE days when I get to experience 100% genuine kid creativity at its finest.
It's all about finding the balance that's right for you and your kids.