First Art Class in the Campo: Making Pre-Cut Shape Collages

Los ninos encanta sus collages!

Today we had our first art class in the campo!  We had 12 children in attendance, ages 4-10.  The kids were so super excited about the class that they all showed up 45 minutes early!  Renzo and I hadn’t even left the house yet when we got a call from Luz to come quick!  LOL, so cute.

The children were all smiles as we pulled up in the car and started unloading the supplies.  Renzo got the kids into a circle and kept them busy making name tag necklaces to wear (makes it easier for us grown-ups to learn the children’s names more quickly and the  kids love making them), while I hurriedly set up our work table.

I planned a simple, classic, collage-based art lesson, providing the children with a range of pre-cut geometric shapes in different sizes and colors which they could then arrange and glue to their papers.  I love starting with this type of project because it is interesting and very accessible to a wide-range of abilities and ages.  It provided a chance for us to talk about favorite colors and shapes, speaking the words in both English and Spanish.  (The children were REALLY excited when I told them I want their help to learn their language and that I would teach them art & some English in return).   This type of lesson also gives me a sense of where the children are at both manually (in terms of fine motor skills) and conceptually.  I’ve also taught this lesson many times to different age groups from 2-12, so those past experiences help guide me in placing where the children might be at in their artistic development, and how I might want to proceed from here.  I was actually quite surprised to find out from the children that NONE of the children had ever participated in an art class before.  Given that, I was incredibly taken with how easily they engaged with the project and their confidence in using the materials (glue, etc).

Teaching the class itself was interesting given the language barrier between me and the class.  I did my best to speak as much Spanish as I could, but often needed Renzo to translate, especially for giving out more explicit instructions and getting the children’s attention.  Classroom management is much more of a challenge in this scenario.  It’s definitely a little strange for me because I’m usually able to read and react to situations very quickly when they arise in the classroom, but not having a firm grasp of the language means losing precious seconds having to ask Renzo to translate or me struggling to find words which I needed to come out much more quickly!  I think anyone who has been a teacher will know exactly what I mean.

In terms of the children’s work, they mostly placed their shapes in different ways on the page,  playing with having shapes touch and overlap- or not.   A fewer number of children represented things from life (mostly faces, which is not a surprise).  There were a few that began representing other objects like trees, flowers, and houses, generally in their second collage (again, not a surprise).  All of the children made two (sometimes three) collages which was fantastic for me to see, because the first collage in this situation is always going to be like getting your feet wet, getting used to new materials and a new way of working, and then subsequent collages are all about new discoveries and beginning to master the materials and process which is soooo exciting for all of us.

After the children had all had a chance to make multiple collages we hung the work up on the wall and sat around for a discussion.  I asked the kids if anyone wanted to share about their collage and…………crickets.  No one wanted to share and they seemed a little embarrassed….it was probably new for them.  So instead I asked if anyone would like to speak about a collage someone else had made that they liked.  Bingo!  The children opened right up and suddenly everyone was out of their shell, wanting to talk about their friends’ work.

I am thinking about what we will do next week.  For sure I want to get my hands on another table so the children can be less cramped.  I think I also want to sit the younger children at one table and the older children at another to make it easier for us to modify the project for the different age levels.   I’m certain that I’d like us to work with collage again, but would like to encourage the children to see how they can change the paper shapes (by folding, twisting, crumpling, etc).  I’m also interested to see how the older children handle scissors (younger ones a little later on).  I’m also thinking about hanging collages…there are some great beams on the ceiling we could hang strings from, literally turning things upside down (so much fun)!

Lots of good stuff to think about.  So glad to be teaching again!

xo A

Tags: art, campo, caribbean, children, collage, dominican republic, kids, republica domincana