Art Heroes : Why is Blue Dog Blue?

            Art Heroes 

In my second week with working with Miss Sarah on our Art Hero series, we decided to do an art story time over the artist George Rodrigue. 

You cannot talk about George Rodrigue without reading his book, but before we read his book we opened with an artist the kids were more familiar with. 

Ms. Sarah opened by reading the book, 

The Artist Who Painted A Blue Horse by Eric Carle.  

The kids really enjoyed this book. I think it was something that they are used to, and it was a great way to show that many artists use nontraditional colors to paint ordinary things. 

After Ms. Sarah finished reading this book, we asked the kids why they thought Eric Carle painted his horse blue. The kids didn't really have a response to this, but it was a great transition  to read George Rodrigue's book. 

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I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this book. It's interactive and introduces to kids to many different colors that they aren't typically used to hearing.  It was perfect for our group. 

Of course after we finished the book, we had to include a clip of Mr. Rodrigue at work. 

 Ms. Sarah also made an amazing connection! She asked the kids if they could think of another animal that was blue and was really popular. Can you think of one? 

No peeking 

It might be a cat. 

A blue cat.

Of course it is the very cool Pete the Cat! 

I think this really hit home that art can be anything & what makes art yours is by making it anything you want. 

We ended the program by inviting the kids to look at some of the artwork of George Rodrigue, and then we had the  kids paint their very own dog. 

You can access this great at activity from George Rodrigue website. 

For our activity we just had the kids use paint to practice mixing colors & shades.  

I enjoyed watching the kids try to make the dog different colors, and trying to remember what mixes what to make a certain color. 

One of our regulars came the first week and said he was not a good artist. but by the time he started painting his dog he told his grandma that was a great artist. I love how much art and stories can have an impact on people. 

Until next time, 

Pamela

Music Heroes: Keith Richards

While Ms. Sarah was away at ALA, I got to do my very first story time all by myself for ages 4-8.

It was a story time tribute to the Rolling Stones legend Keith Richards.




To set the mood for this rockin' story time, I  opened with the song.

The song is called: Rock and Roll Rhythm Band by Greg and Steve. 

These are not my kids. It is just a YouTube video, but it is a nice representation of how the song goes, and how much fun it is! It was a wonderful opener & perfect to get even the youngest child's attention. I would highly recommend it for your story time needs. 

As I collected the instruments, I started to introduce who Keith Richards was. The biggest point I wanted to make was that he is not from the United States, and instead he is from Dartford, England. I wanted to make this point to explain why the book was a little different. I then talked about how even though Keith was not from the United States, he loved to listen to Jazz and Blues music. The week before we discussed Jazz & Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. So I wanted to make this point to have this series build on each other & show the progression of music. 

We then listened to a portion of the song Rolllin' Stone by Muddy Waters. 

If you don't know much about Rolling Stone history, this is the song that inspired Keith Richards and Mick Jagger to name the band the Rolling Stones. 

 I had the kids try to wiggle and sway to the beat of the music. They had a lot of fun with this, but I think we need to go over blues music on a later day. They did not know what to think about it. 

Finally, it was time to settle in to read our story of the day.  

I read the book Gus & Me by Keith Richards. 

If you haven't read this book, it is about how Keith's grandfather inspired him to play the guitar.

As I read the story, I looked out at my story time crowd and realized that my audience was all grandparents and grandkids.  I watched as they swayed together as I read the story, and I took in that moment when the grandparents got hugs at the end of the story.

It is a moment I think that will stay with me the rest of my life.

It was like a song in itself.

....& that is how my story time become an unintentional intergenerational story time.

This story was a wonderful way to bring these generations together in music. In fact, this might be one to repeat on grandparents day.

To end this music hero series, I invited my participants to do some activities.




Our first activity was to make paper plate guitars. I think the kids most enjoyed this activity.

I also had a station out for the kids to make thank you cards or pictures for a loved one. There were a lot of happy loved ones in the room.



It was very sweet. My favorite part was one of  participants said his middle name is Gus so he is going to become the next Keith Richards. He proceeded to rock out on his paper plate guitar & his grandmother joined in by singing the song "Paint it Black."

So look for them to go on tour in the future.

Overall it was a fantastic experience. In the words of the Rolling Stones, "

"You can't always get what you want, 
But if you try, sometimes well you just might find,
 You get what you need. "

This story time did not go as planned, but it turned out to be so much more. 

Until Next Time, 

Pamela

Art Heroes! A Story Time About Henri Matisse

          Art Heroes 

I have been working with the amazing Ms. Sarah on doing a story time with art and music heroes in history. 

I am really blessed to have a mom who studied to be an art teacher & brought art and books into my life at young age. So I was really excited when Ms. Sarah approached me for this series. 

For the month of July, we have started on our Art Heroes series. 

Last week, our first art hero was Henri Matisse. 

Ms. Sarah opened with  having the kids dance to the song Rainbow of Colors by The Wiggles with scarves. I find scarves a little intimidating. I was so glad Ms. Sarah was there for support. The kids really enjoyed this.

Next, I prepared a quick overview on Matisse. I was going to open with this but the kids were a little antsy so I just included some of these facts as we read the book.

Henri Matisse was a famous artist, but he wasn’t always an artist. He was a lawyer.

One day when he got very sick & was bed ridden, his mom bought him a paint set to help pass the time. It was then that Matisse realized that he wanted to become an artist!

He stopped being a lawyer and became an artist instead. He spent many years making beautiful art. The people of France referred to him as a “wild beast” because he used color & shapes that were not used before. When Matisse got older, he could not move around very well. He could not leave his house, but did that stop Matisse from doing art?  

He came up with a technique he called “painting with scissors” this allowed him to bring color to his room.

The Book 

Once we finished up with the book, we watched a Youtube video of  Matisse at work.  

The kids really enjoyed having a chance to see Matisse at work. 

 Following this video, Ms. Sarah read a portion of this book. 

This book is little long, but it shows different shapes and how those shapes could make a picture. 

This was a great introduction to our craft which was having the kids "paint with scissors" to create their own art piece. 

The Craft 

Using Pinterest, I found this idea from Children's Art School & I was really inspired by it. 

To have the kids paint with scissors, Ms. Sarah set out scrape paper from our accucut machine and allowed the kids to find shapes for their picture. Since we have been having some toddlers show up, I also cut out some paper for them to glue. 

  To have additional activities, we also set out Matisse Coloring Sheet for the younger kids. 

(The 4-8 age group is a tricky one, but many kids took this sheet home with them). 

With these stations, I  also had a Museum of Matisse where I displayed some of Matisse's artwork. I wanted the kids to see how his artwork progressed and get a sense of his work. 

The kids really enjoyed these crafts. I loved watching the kids turn their heads back and forth trying to make out a picture with their scrape paper. One little girl made a horse and castle with her paper. It is always impressive to watch what the kids can come up with. 

Finally to end this program, I invited the kids to take home some books on Matisse. Here are  some more great books on him and his work. 

I hope you were as inspired by this as I was. 

Until next time, 

Pamela