TEACHING EMOTION IN ART : March 2016

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Teaching emotion in art makes children more aware and more sensitive to other people’s feelings. They learn to have pride and integrity about themselves and their own identities. This helps them to better understand, empathize, and respect the emotions of those other than themselves. This topic resonates with me because my own personal art places focus on creating emotional artworks.

If emotion was taught in art at a young age to our young children before they grow into young adults, they might just might become young adults who are more sensitive to peers feelings and care a bit more and understand a bit more about different people who do not always fit in…and there may be less bullying, less teasing and pointing fingers at outsiders, kids who just don’t fit in and maybe we can even go further to say teaching emotion in art to the young can change lives.

I plan to create an art unit on this topic for college students majoring in elementary school teaching.

Hi Gary,

So I want to use this 1.0 credit hour to brain storm and come up with articles, videos, lesson plans and basically research on this topic for my capstone project which I hope to work on next year to present by next May 2017.What I showed you in the blog was simply the beginning of brainstorming and researching and this will be the vehicle in which I will present my findings to you by the end of the semester.

Teaching the feel of art | Rory Allweis | TEDxJaffa

Saturday, March 19, 2016

What's the Story behind Edvard Munch & The Scream?

Friday, March 18, 2016

Pictured: Edvard Munch – The Scream. A modernist movement originating in Germany, Expressionism sought to convey meaning or emotional experience rather than physical reality. A typical trait of Expressionism is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect and to evoke moods or ideas.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Kids draw feelings and emotions with music in Daycare LESSON 3

WORRY DOLLS

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"I recently went to the library and checked out just about every book on anxiety and came across a gem called Silly Billy by Anthony Brown. The story is about a boy who worries a lot at night until his grandmother introduces him to worry dolls which he can tell his worries to to make his worries go away.

This book was perfect for my 6 year old. We had an illuminating discussion about our worries after we read it, and she shared with me stories from night that she had never told me (like when Grandma and Grandpa stayed the night, and she thought she saw Grandpa’s hat moving by itself at night!).

I highly recommend the book with one caveat. The title! It is not SILLY to worry. That annoys me. I want my daughter to feel okay about her worries and feel heard and not feel like she is silly for worrying! I downplayed the title a lot when I read it to my girls.

The book even has a nice snippet of information about the history and cultural use of worry dolls."

Guatemalan Worry Dolls

Worry dolls are also called trouble dolls and originate from Guatemala. You tell your worry to the doll and put it under your pillow. The worry doll takes the worry from you and helps you sleep more peacefully.

When I was younger, I had a set of worry dolls that I used to put under my pillow, and I loved them. They were so cute, and it gave me some comfort to tell my worries to them even though I never believed they actually would take away my worries.

You can buy worry dolls on Amazon for cheap! I’m planning on getting some for my daughter to see if she wants to use them at night to make her feel better.

Worry Dolls Lesson and Project

Book and Discussion

After we read and discussed the book, I shared with the girls pictures of real worry dolls and talked about how they were made. We also found Guatemala on the globe and discussed the history of worry dolls a little bit.

Patterns Lesson

On the last page of the book, there are lots of pictures of worry dolls. I asked the girls to describe them. We talked about the bright colors, varied lines, and the patterns used on the worry dolls. Then, we each painted a pattern of our choosing on a piece of 8.5×11″ card stock.

Make a Worry Doll

The Art Curator for Kids-Guatemalan Worry Dolls-cut out doll

After we made the patterns, I drew a worry doll shape and cut it out. I would normally let my daughter do her own, but I took the easy way out this time. (I know, I know.)

The girls then added googly eyes and used sharpies to draw on the face. My 3yo then drew letters all over hers, because she loves writing letters.

The Art Curator for Kids-Guatemalan Worry Dolls-draw face

They each glued on strings with simple white glue for the hair. My 6yo could do this on her own, but my 3yo needed some help.

The Art Curator for Kids-Guatemalan Worry Dolls-string hair

After they were done, we picked some fabric from Nana’s stash of fabric scraps to make clothes! My 6yo didn’t want to cover up her pattern so she ended up choosing not to clothe it. My 3yo gave her a nice beige shirt and skirt.

The Art Curator for Kids-Guatemalan Worry Dolls-finished dolls

Overall, this was very a helpful lesson for my family. Since we made the dolls, we’ve used them to talk about emotions and worries, and this has opened up a deeper conversation with my anxious child about her fears.