Flying High with 5 to7 Year Olds

Last week you may recall, I got an emergency call from the Worcester Art Museum asking if I could come in to teach 5 -7 year olds to make kites. The Education Department sent a lesson plan and told me I could amend the plan any way I wanted. 

The lesson plan involved making actual kites with dowels, string, and butcher paper cut into a 26" x 38" diamond. The class was to be two hours long and none of the materials had been gathered and prepped ahead of time. Making real kites with 5 year olds? That would mean myself and the aid would be doing the actual assembly for 13 kites. Nope, this lesson plan wasn't gonna fly.

I was up half the night trying to think of what I could do. I remembered a craft book I had as a kid. There were instructions to make a large carp that looked like a windsock. Scaled down it might be something the kids to do on their own. 

I got up early the next morning, fed the kitties, and checked out the Brother Scan n Cut Canvas Workspace to see if they had a fish pattern I could cut out as a template. 

There was a project to make a fish mobile. Yes!

All I had to do was resize the large, pink pattern  to 12 inches in length (the size of the cutting mat) and cut out one for each child. I have more paper than I can use in my lifetime so I used some watercolor paper which would be sturdy enough for the kids to trace around. I cut the pattern so the fish would look like its mouth was open. The little guys would then have to trace two fish and cut them out of drawing paper. They could decorate their fish halves with crayons. Some ribbon could be glued to the tails and the two fish halves glued together around the edges but not around the mouth. The kids could punch holes on either side of the mouth for string to be threaded through the holes.

The museum supplies all the stuff for the kids' classes, but because I didn't and wouldn't have enough time to go through the supply room ahead of time to see what I could find, I decided to bring in a large spool of baker's twine. Just in case. Drawing paper, crayons, glue stick, scissors, hole punches, pencils, and ribbon would be in the supply closet. I thought a plastic straw could be used to attach the "kite string" and then the kids would have a holder, wand, rod whatever you wanted to call it to wave their fish around.  Before meeting the kids in the lobby, I picked up the class roster and asked if there were any plastic straws. The Studio/Class Program Coordinator found a package of plastic straws and I was assigned Studio 102 which is right next to the Supply Room. Perfect!

I have taught kids before, usually 11 - 13 year olds, but I had never taught the wee ones. All the kid classes involve a trip into the gallery to look at some artwork. On the outside of the museum at the entrance to the lobby and the Education Wing, is a large mural of Kandinsky Untitled No. 639. After taking attendance we went outside to look at the mural. I asked what it looked like to them and they all agreed kites. We talked a bit about movement and wind and then went inside to the studio.

The Littles were so cute, paid attention to the directions (for the most part), and focused on decorating their fish. We also used a little bit of crumpled up tissue paper between the fish halves to make the fish puff out a bit.

Guess what his mom is getting for Mother's Day?

This Little Guy was obsessed with the cartoon character, Sponge Bob. My girlies loved this cartoon when they were little and I remembered a few of the gags. He was thrilled that I knew Sponge Bob. 

The kids finished up and there was still a half an hour left of class. So I asked them if they wanted to have a parade. They thought that would be fun so I lined them up and lead them down the Education Wing around the lobby and back to the studio. They had fun waving and dragging their fish behind them.

Back in the studio they could have free time for drawing or just playing with their fish. One little girl announced to the rest of them that it also looked like they caught a fish on a fishing pole. That idea was a big hit so some of them had fun pretending they were fishing.

All in all a good class. There was no whining, crying, or having a melt down. The kids were all well-behaved, too. 😉