February is Black History Month, an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. This year’s theme "African Americans and the Arts" highlights the many contributions Black Americans have had on the arts, cultural movements and more.
At Tinkergarten we know that artistic expression and creativity are critical skills—not only for artists or musicians, but also for kids as a way of thinking about and being in the world. Introducing kids to the work of diverse artists helps kids to see the infinite possibilities for how and what they can create and provides models for how they can remain creative throughout their lives.
In honor of this year’s Black History Month, we share this activity inspired by the work and techniques of Lilian Thomas Burwell. Burwell is an abstract painter and sculptor known for creating abstract forms inspired by the shapes in nature. At 96 years old, she is still creating and exhibiting her work—a true model of remaining creative for life! As featured in our February Activity Calendar, in this activity, kids take inspiration from Burwell's work as they create art that expresses the shapes and colors they observe in natural objects.
If you do not yet have your free copy of the February Activity Calendar, download it here.
The Guide
Step 1: Get inspired!
Look at images of Lilian Thomas Burwell’s artwork with kids. Ask kids what shapes, lines and colors they notice. What does it remind them of or make them think about? How does her art make them feel?
Step 2: Zoom in!
Head outside and invite kids to find something in nature that they would like to look at more closely. Welcome kids to use their eyes, a camera or a magnifying glass to zoom in on the object. Talk together about what you see, focusing on colors, shapes, lines. If you can, take a photo of the object or if you found it on the ground, take it with you. You can also welcome kids to take a pretend photo with their eyes to help them remember what they saw.
Step 3: Create!
Head to a space where kids can create with art materials (or bring some paper and a few drawing tools outside with you).
Offer some paper and a few simple art materials (e.g. colored pencils, markers, crayons, watercolor paints, tempera or earth based paints) and invite kids to use the materials to show you what they noticed about the nature object.
You can offer glue as well to enable kids to blend nature objects with marks that they create.
Let kids lead the way by allowing them space to choose which materials they would like to use and how they would like to represent their observations of the object.
Step 4: Support the creative process.
Try to resist the urge to direct, guide or model for kids as they create, and do not be surprised if their creation does not look anything like the object you observed together. Creating representational artwork (art that looks like a model of a real object) requires cognitive and fine motor skills that young kids are still developing.
And, just as Burwell creates abstract art that is an expression rather than a true representation of the natural world, kids’ art can and should be a true expression of their own ideas, thoughts and feelings. You can support kids’ creative process by inviting them to tell you about their art and by sharing aloud what you notice about their choices of colors, shapes and lines.
Step 5: Share your creations.
Take photos and share your creations with friends, making sure to include the name of the artist who inspired them. What a wonderful way to honor Lilian Thomas Burwell for her contributions and get friends more curious about creativity! If you do share them publicly, be sure to tag #Tinkergarten. We'd love to cheer on your creative process!
Why is this activity great for kids?
Zooming in to look closely and observe objects in nature supports kids’ focus skills and deepens their connection to the natural world. Using art materials to express their observations supports a wide variety of skills including visual communication, fine motor skills and creativity. Finally, introducing kids to the work of diverse artists helps kids to see the infinite possibilities for how and what they can create and provides models for how they can remain creative throughout their lives.
By communication, we mean the ability to listen, understand, speak, read and write and more. In order to communicate effectively, kids must learn to understand what they want to get across, then decide on how to convey their messages, working to coordinate the mind and body to do so. They also need to learn to anticipate how the message will be received by another person(s). This is rather elegant and requires a symphony of physical, cognitive and social capabilities. The more children can practice, the better!
Why does it matter?
On a very practical level, kids need to be able to express questions and ideas in order to learn. Kids who communicate effectively can test ideas, seek help and let their formal and informal teachers in the world know what they understand and where they need support. Kids will also need strong and nuanced communication skills in order to work well in peer groups and manage relationships with authority figures, critical parts of life in classrooms and beyond. Later in life, they will need these skills to form close relationships, advocate for themselves within communities and be effective in the workplace.
Creativity
Category:
Thinking Skills
What is Creativity?
By creativity, we mean the ability to both imagine original ideas or solutions to problems and actually do what needs to be done to make them happen. So, to help kids develop creativity, we parents need to nurture kids' imaginations and give them lots of chances to design, test, redesign and implement their ideas.
"Creativity is as important now in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.”
Why, you ask? For one, it is through being creative that a person is able to get senses, sensibility and spirit working together. Simply put, without creativity, we don't think our kids will live a full life.
On a more practical level, it's also the means by which humans of all ages make an impact on the world and other people around them. A lot of heavy stuff is going to go down in our kids' lifetime, and their generation will need to imagine and implement solutions to big and very complicated problems. Although our kids are still far from public office or the boardroom, today's political and business leaders worldwide are already pointing to creativity as the most important leadership quality for the future.
Although years from the art studio or design lab, little kids can learn to think and act creatively if you give them time and the right practice.
Focus & Self Control
Category:
Thinking Skills
What is Focus and Self Control?
We think of self control as a child’s ability to focus on something in such a way that maximizes learning. In order to do that, they first need to direct their attention and focus on a single thing. They also need to discern which information around them is most important and deserving of their attention. Thirdly, they need something called “inhibition.” Think of inhibition as the ability to control impulses, block out distractions and continue attending to the same thing. Focus, discerning and inhibition all require rather fancy brain work and are thought to be part of the “executive functions” or the set of cognitive processes involving the prefrontal cortex that help us manage ourselves and the environment to achieve a goal.
Why does it matter?
Our world is full of distractions, more today than ever. Kids who are in any learning situation need the ability to control their impulses, block out noise and attend to the person, objects, events, or discussions that are central to learning. As classroom teachers, we saw that kids who did this ruled the classroom. As outdoor educators and parents, we know the same holds true outside of school.
But don’t take our word for it; the research is impressive. It turns out that these executive function skills are closely tied to success in the classroom, higher level education and life beyond school. Experts like Adele Diamond of the University of British Columbia have shown that, “If you look at what predicts how well children will do later in school, more and more evidence is showing that executive functions—working memory and inhibition—actually predict success better than IQ tests.” Although these skills are difficult for young children and don’t crystallize until adulthood, the more kids practice them, the better at them kids become.
Age: 0 to 8+
Time: 1 hour+
Materials: paper; art materials (e.g. crayons, pencils, markers, paint); magnifying glass (optional)
