Shapes and Lines in Motion
from the Arts for All Program
Age Range: 3-9 Years-old, Pre K to 3rd Grade
Time Frame: One hour session
Program Description:
Arts for All utilizes art tools designed so that participants with limited movement or lack of fine motor skills can be successful in using what mobility they have to create, paint, draw, print, and more. The tools incorporate the use of one’s wheelchair, walker, arms, or legs as part of the creative process. Individuals can make prints, draw with chalk, or use pogo paint poles, all while working on mobility skills and coordination, creativity, expression, and self esteem.
Activity Summary:
This activity gives students an opportunity to use the arts to express creativity and develop visual art and movement skills. A growing body of research points to the important role of the arts in improving students’ academic achievement and preparing them cognitively for a world that demands creative solutions to challenging problems. Increase problem solving, critical and creative thinking skills;
Goal:
To develop an understanding of the print making process with a special attention to shapes and lines.
Objectives:
• To recognize lines and shapes as elements of art
• To understand lines and shapes as an element of form and movement.
• Perform a dance that uses shapes and lines
• Create prints using lines and shapes
• Create a mural that represents lines and shapes in motion
• To analyze characteristics and properties of two-and three-dimensional geometric shapes
• To specify locations and describe spatial relationships using representational systems.
• To use visualization, spatial reasoning, and geometric modeling to solve problems.
State Standards:
Visual Arts Standards 1,2,3,5; Dance Standards 3; Music Standards 4,5; Mathematic Standards*
Set up:
Roll out large a large piece of the thick Arts for All paper, tape it to the wall, locate pogo polls, foam, individual papers and place on the table. Lay out scissors, markers and foam on the table as well. Explain to students the print making process. Put the paint on palates so the students can dip the pogo poll in the paint and begin the process.
Procedure:
1. Begin with a discussion of shapes. Activate vocabulary about shapes, and identify shapes in the environment. Discuss lines. Identify types of lines (jagged, straight, and curved). Then, talk about how a person can make shapes with their own bodies. Make triangle and circle shapes with fingers. Make them with arms. Make them with your whole body. Make them with a partner. Then, make lines by moving across an area back and forth. First, move in a straight line, then in a curvy line, then as wobbly or jagged as can be. Add changing directions, (forward, sideways, and backwards). Students should be aware of how much space they are using. Engage students in a brief discussion about how they moved.
2. Then with some calm classical music (Bach, Beethoven), tell group that you will make a dance using two kinds of shapes. With very young children, small or shy groups, have the whole group work together. With older groups, this works well for small groups of 4-6 participant-artists. Have a rehearsal where the group decides what shapes and lines to use, how their bodies will make the shapes and lines, and in what order you will perform them. Then, have a little performance with the music without stopping, either just as a whole group, or for each other. Engage students in brief discussion about their dances, and what they saw happening in other’s dance.
3. Using the Arts For All equipment- roll cardboard paper, foam, pogo polls and paint- begin the printmaking with special attention to shapes and lines. Instruct artist/participants to focus on the same shapes and lines that they chose to use in the dance. Once students have completed their print designs, allow them to paint on the larger mural with the color that most reflects how they felt during their dance. Then, bring them to a mural, either on the floor or a wall. Explain to students that they will now put the shapes on the mural similar to the way they danced the shapes. This could be in a circle or zig-zag or any configuration of their choice. Encourage group discussion about where to put their shapes and how many to put before they place them. Allow students some time to decide.
Materials:
1. Pogo Paint Poles
2. Pogo art supplies (See Art Tool Section, Pogo Paint Poles for supply list and sample activity set up)
3. A CD or tape players and a selection of classical music.
Resources:
Zots Arts for All Activity Guide
*Mathematics embedded into the program:
• Analyze characteristics and properties of two-and three-dimensional geometric shapes.
• Specify locations and describe spatial relationships using representational systems.
• Use visualization, spatial reasoning, and geometric modeling to solve problems.